Ethan Allen Reports Fourth Quarter Earnings

July 24, 2007  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on July 2007 Ethan Allen Chairman and CEO Farooq Kathwari said he is pleased with the company’s performance as earnings per share of 65 cents in the fourth quarter came within a penny of matching last year’s numbers.

Net delivered sales for the quarter that ended June 30 totaled $258.5 million, down from $272 million a year earlier. Net delivered sales for the company’s retail division increased 1.7 percent to $187.5 million, while wholesale sales declined 8.5 percent to $162.8 million. Comparable Ethan Allen design center delivered sales decreased 5.9 percent.

For the fiscal year, net delivered sales of $1.005 billion were down from $1.066 billion in the previous year. Earnings per share totaled $2.15, down from $2.51 the previous year.

“We are pleased with our results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year,” Kathwari said, according to a statement. “Despite a challenging economic environment and tough period-over-period comparisons as a result of a 12 percent increase in sales in both the prior-year quarter and year, our sales held up and gross margins improved.”

He said the results reflect a number of initiatives the company has embarked on in recent years, including, “the continued repositioning of our retail network; investments in recruiting and training efforts to increase the professionalism of our retail management team; the development of stylish, high-quality products at good value; improved advertising and marketing programs; and faster delivery of our products to our customers. All of these initiatives have a common objective -- a renewed focus on providing solutions and service. As a result, we believe that such efforts provide us a distinct competitive advantage and an opportunity to grow our business.”

Ethan Allen’s network includes 313 design centers, including 158 that are company owned. In a separate announcement Tuesday, the company said it set its regular quarterly cash dividend at 22 cents per share, which is an increase of 10 percent. The company’s board also approved a plan to repurchase up to 2.5 million shares of its common stock.