Hooker Furniture Records Double-Digit Q3 Profit Hike

December 7, 2017  by Larry Thomas in Economic News, Financial Reports, Industry   

Net income totaled $7.2 million or 61 cents per share. That’s up 11.5% from $6.46 million or 56 cents per share in the same quarter last year – the third quarter of the company’s fiscal year.

The company said the sales gain was driven by higher shipments at the Home Meridian segment, which reported a 7% sales increase for the quarter, and in the Upholstery Segment, which had an approximate $7 million or 36% sales increase, including $3 million of revenues from new operating division Shenandoah Furniture for the month of October.

Hooker Furniture completed its acquisition of Valdese, N.C.-based upscale, domestically-produced upholstery maker Shenandoah on Sept. 29.

Hooker Casegoods sales were down 1% for the quarter, but the company said the segment’s order backlog is up 25% and incoming orders are up 6% year-to-date.

Sales in the Upholstery Segment were driven by a double-digit gain at Hooker Upholstery and high single-digit gains at Bradington-Young and Sam Moore.

The company said its Home Meridian segment was driven by sales to emerging retail channels – primarily e-commerce, where sales are up 45% year-to-date.

"The third quarter had mixed results, in that retail weakened significantly across all segments in September, partially due to the hurricanes that hit Florida and Texas," said Paul Toms, chairman and CEO.  "In October, retail bounced back, along with incoming order trends and shipments across all segments. The October High Point Furniture Market was solid for most of our reportable segments. However, due to a later than normal Chinese New Year, more of the heavy shipping activity that normally precedes the holiday will fall in the first quarter of next year.”

He said order and shipment trends for Hooker Casegoods and the Upholstery Segment should have favorable impact on sales for the fiscal fourth quarter, but the reduced backlog and orders at Home Meridian compared to the same period a year ago could negatively impact sales comparisons for that segment.

For the nine months ended Oct. 29, sales were up 10.4% to $445.1 million. Nine-month net income shot up nearly 38% to $19.7 million or $1.69 per share.

In addition, the board of directors increased the quarterly cash dividend by 2 cents to 14 cents per share. The new dividend is payable Dec. 29 to stockholders of record Dec. 18.