Daily News Archive
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August 23,
2011 by in UnCategorized 
By Aggregated Content in Acquisition on August 24, 2011
from http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z5110362708&z=1250249027
Ashley Furniture Industries, which employs some 3,000 workers at its facilities in Ecru and Ripley, could be adding more in the future. The Arcadia, Wis.-based furniture company recently acquired the intellectual properties of Berkline/BenchCraft, once a major player in the industry. According to Furniture Today, Ashley paid more than $6 million in a bankruptcy court bidding process. Berkline/BenchCraft filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May, laying off its last 600 workers at its Morristown, Tenn., facility. Ashley, the nation's largest furniture retailer and supplier, said it would reintroduce the Berkline and BenchCraft furniture line and sell it
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August 22,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Aggregated Content in Financial Reports on August 23, 2011
from http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z5106449592&z=1250249030
Williams-Sonoma Inc.'s (NYSE:WSM) The company also raised its full-year earnings estimate to $2.17 to $2.22 a share from its May forecast of $2.13 to $2.21, and also backed its current-quarter guidance. Williams-Sonoma has seen robust earnings growth for more than a year as its merchandising and marketing plans have allowed it to gain market share despite overall softness in the sale of home furnishings. Like other high-end retailers, the company has seen rising same-store sales of late and is expanding internationally to spur further revenue growth.
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August 22,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Aggregated Content in Acquisition on August 23, 2011
from http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?z5105460152&z=1250249030
George Little Management and Providence Equity Partners today announced that GLM and affiliates of Providence have signed a definitive merger agreement under which affiliates of Providence will acquire GLM from Daily Mail and General Trust plc (LSE: DMGT.L) for approximately $173 million in cash.
GLM creates face-to-face and online buying, selling and networking platforms for designers, product developers, manufacturers, reps, retailers and operators through tradeshow and event production, online community development and association management. GLM currently produces 15 tradeshows, serving industries as diverse as giftware, home furnishings, social stationery, home
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August 22,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Executive Changes on August 23, 2011
Hooker Furniture (NASDAQ-GS: HOFT) has promoted Alan Cole to President of the corporation; and Mike Delgatti president of Hooker Upholstery.
Cole has led Hooker's Bradington-Young and Sam Moore upholstery operations since joining the company in 2007.
"Alan has done a fantastic job of repositioning and strengthening our upholstery division while navigating through a severe economic downturn," said Paul B. Toms Jr., chairman and CEO of Hooker Furniture, Martinsville, Va. "At this point, we believe the best way to fully utilize his talents and leadership ability is through an expanded role of leadership for the entire company, focusing on the sales and marketing area."
Toms added that Cole "will help us take our marketing efforts to the next level as we continue to strive towards presenting all three companies more cohesively to the retailer and consumer."
In moving from executive vice president to president of Hooker Upholstery, Delgatti's role will expand from sales, merchandising and marketing to also include operations.
"We've made tremendous strides under Mike's leadership in our product, presentation and overall position in the marketplace during the last two years at Bradington-Young and Sam Moore," Cole said. "Mike is highly experienced in what it takes to run a successful upholstery operation, and we are excited and confident that he will bring fresh strategic thinking to every aspect of our upholstery operations."
Delgatti reports to Cole. Prior to joining Hooker Upholstery, Delgatti served as president of Clayton Marcus and as executive vice president of merchandising for occasional and upholstery at Broyhill, and vice president of sales and marketing at Southern Furniture.
Prior to joining Hooker Furniture, Cole served as president and/or chief executive officer of Berkline, Schnadig and Lifestyle Furnishings International, the former furniture division of Masco.
August 22,
2011 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on August 23, 2011
Furniture and bedding components vendor Hickory Springs will place greater emphasis on research and development with a new corporate innovation center.
Tapping a 30,000-square-foot complex owned by the company, the center will be strategically located among several of its major facilities and corporate headquarters in Hickory, NC.
The new Corporate Innovation and Testing Center is expected to be operational by December of this year. The majority of the space in the new complex will be dedicated to controlled labs designed for the testing of products for automotive, commercial transportation, healthcare, government markets, telecommunications and home furnishings sectors. About 10,000-square-feet will be showrooms and conference rooms where customers and vendors will be able to work collaboratively on new products, programs and services.
"We have taken significant steps to align our company and management to reflect future growth and diversification opportunities. A key objective is rapid identification of new products, services and businesses across all our divisions," said Hickory Springs Executive Vice President Dwayne Welch. "Because of the diversification of our products, we saw a need to bring product design and testing under one roof to streamline our processes while improving efficiency."
Brad McNeely, a Hickory Springs veteran executive, who recently was promoted to the newly created post of vice president of new product development, will oversee operations of the new center. He will work alongside Mike Simmons, who recently assumed the role of vice president of new market development, and is tasked with increasing customer interaction and integration with new product and business development.
"Because today's markets and customer demands change rapidly, we have a constant need to leverage our expertise and respond quickly," McNeely said. "With many of the innovation responsibilities tied to the manufacturing plants, we have already laid the groundwork for creating this centralized effort. Bringing our R&D groups together, under one roof, enables us to step up our responsiveness and communications with our customers, as we will now have a team that is dedicated full time to developing new and improved products for existing and future markets."