Sport-Haley Considers Sale of Chromcraft Revington

July 17, 2014  by in Business Strategy, Casegoods, Industry, Product, Upholstery   

Sport-Haley acquired Chromcraft Revington in November and the transition has been a bit rocky. The company has retained an investment banking firm to explore strategic alternatives, including the sale of Chromcraft's operations and assets.

In May, Chromcraft received a default notice from its primary lender. Since that time, the company says it has been working closely with the bank to identify ways to meet its obligations, while continuing to serve customers and operate daily.

"We continue to make progress toward defining a transition plan for Chromcraft Revington, which we believe has the potential to be a viable and profitable business," said Sam Kidston, chairman and CEO of Sport-Haley Holdings. "Since May, we have received a number of offers from interested parties in acquiring the assets and operations of CRC, and we are working closely with Chromcraft's management team to review all offers from potential investors. Based on the current level of interest, our goal is to pursue a transaction that we believe should allow CRC to return to full operations by sometime this fall." 

In June, Jeffrey Sockol was appointed chief restructuring officer of Chromcraft and charged with turning the company around. At that time, Michael Hanna rejoined the company as senior vice president of sales. Chromcraft Revington continues to operate and fulfill orders from its finished goods inventory, although production has been temporarily suspended and impacted availability of some products. 

The company said inaccurate information about its status has been swirling through the industry, and it deemed it necessary to address the chatter. 

Chromcraft said it had not cancelled any orders that it could fulfill, and it plans to return to full operation as soon as possible. The company said it continues to accept new orders through its network of non-exclusive reps.

"We are accepting new orders for furniture for which we have inventory and materials immediately available to meet deadlines or where the dealer understands that the order will be filled as soon as materials are available and production schedules allow," according to the statement.

The statement goes on to say all of the Chromcraft sales representatives are being paid on a timely basis for June and July orders. In addition, the company said "it paid $39,000 of the total $117,000 April commissions earned and have made arrangements for payment of the remaining $78,000. We are currently in the process of making arrangements for payment of May commissions, which total approximately $30,000."

Chromcraft said reports that it had shipped incomplete orders were wrong. "In some cases, an order may have been broken into multiple shipments or parts of an order were delayed. Less than 8 percent of our total orders shipped have resulted in an incomplete order being found, and in all these cases we issued a credit or refund to the dealer. 

The company has established a hotline (662) 562-8203 for customers with questions about orders. Customers and dealers can also email the company with questions.  The company said voicemails and emails will be responded to within one to two days.