Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Havertys 1Q Income Slips
May 2,
2014 by in Financial Reports, Furniture Retailing, Industry 
Home furnishings retailer Havertys (NYSE: HVT) (NYSE: HVT-A) posted net income of $6.1 million for the first quarter ended March 31 compared to net income of $8.3 million reported in the same quarter last year.
Net sales for the quarter were $181.7 million, a 2.3 percent decline from $186 million reported in the first quarter of last year.
Same-store sales were down 0.9 percent from an 11.5 percent increase for the same period last year. The retailer noted that same-store sales increased 7.3 percent in its 30 southern stores not impacted by winter weather.
"Earnings for the first quarter are slightly better than anticipated at the time of the sales release as we achieved very good gross profit margins due to our exclusive merchandise and pricing discipline and contained our fixed and discretionary costs," said Clarence Smith, chairman, president and CEO. "We are glad to report that our sales momentum has picked up in April. Our comparable store written business is currently trending up 7.5 percent quarter to date after adjusting for the Easter calendar shift. Total written business is up 6.4 percent on top of the 19 percent produced last year for this period after adjusting for the calendar differences."
The complete earnings release can be found online.