Jennifer Posts Loss on Sales Decline

November 30, 2008  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on December 2008 Jennifer Convertibles, which operates a chain of more than 170 stores, announced last week that revenue in its fourth quarter decreased 16.3 percent to $30.8 million and had a net loss of $867,000 after posting net income of $1.74 million in the same period of 2007.

For the year, revenue at the Woodbury, N.Y.-based company decreased 9.7 percent to $120.9 million, and the company had a loss of $3.32 million versus net income of $3.79 million in fiscal 2007.

The company, which operates a network of 172 stores (including 148 corporate Jennifer locations and two Ashley HomeStores), said it closed 10 stores during 2008.

In a statement, CEO Harley Greenfield said, “Although I am certainly not pleased with the results achieved during fiscal 2008, I believe we have the right strategy in place, even in this unprecedented economy, to provide customers merchandise at incredible values while maintaining good margins.”

He said the company is continuing to cut costs, including reaching a warehousing and management agreement with the Related Companies that, with 2008’s volume, would have cut costs by up to $1.4 million.

Greenfield said he is “pleased with the progress of our Ashley division.” The two stores now account for about 10 percent of the company’s revenues, and Jennifer is pursuing the opening of a third Ashley store in 2009.