Hooker Furniture Profits Spike on 7.4% Sales Increase

June 6, 2017  by Larry Thomas in Economic News, Financial Reports, Industry   

Net income totaled $4.75 million or 41 cents per share, up from $2.5 million or 22 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

Sales totaled $130.9 million, an increase of 7.4% from $121.8 million in the comparable quarter. The company said sales in its Home Meridian segment rose 13.4% to $73.7 million, while Hooker Casegoods sales were essentially flat at $32.8 million and upholstery sales were up 1.3% to $22.2 million.

The casegoods and upholstery businesses, however, reported operating margins of 12% and 10.3%, respectively, while Home Meridian’s operating margin was 1.1%.

"While we hit our budgeted earnings for the quarter, we believe there's room for improvement,” said Paul Toms, chairman and CEO. “We recognize the need to grow our Hooker legacy business long-term and to convert higher sales into increased profitability in our Home Meridian segment. With these objectives, we have recently completed a strategic review of the traditional Hooker business under the direction of George Revington, chief operating officer of Hooker Furniture Corporation."

Toms said that review resulted in the naming of a dedicated management team for each business unit, a move that should lead to profitable growth.

“Each of the traditional Hooker business units targets a different market niche and has completely dedicated leadership and product and sales management teams,” Revington added. “This more focused and nimble management structure positions each unit to pursue emerging channels of distribution that offer higher growth opportunities.”