Leggett & Platt Unveils New Strategy

November 13, 2007  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Mattresses on November 2007 Leggett & Platt, the nation’s largest supplier of components for furniture and bedding, announced plans to become a smaller, but more profitable company Tuesday. As a result of a strategic review, the Carthage, Mo.-based company plans to eliminate one-fifth of its portfolio (representing $1.2 billion in revenue) and boost shareholder returns by 12 percent to 15 percent.

The businesses Leggett & Platt plans to sell include its aluminum products division and the least profitable segment of its store fixtures operation.

The company said the plans will involve restructuring-related charges of as much as $300 million. The company reported record annual revenues of $5.51 billion in January.

CEO and President David Haffner said, “We are making significant, necessary changes to the way we assess our portfolio of businesses, and to how we manage our asset base. We intend to be better stewards of shareholders’ capital, generate significantly more free cash, and return a larger amount of that cash to our investors. Our shareholder returns have suffered for the past few years, as part of our portfolio has dragged us down. We are correcting that by divesting several of our businesses. These are tough decisions we don’t make lightly because they affect many of our employee-partners; however, these actions are required to bring about a stronger, better performing, and more focused Leggett & Platt.”