La-Z-Boy Delivers First Quarter Fiscal Financial Highlights

August 22, 2023  by HFBusiness Staff in Business Strategy, Industry   

Company owned Retail written same-store sales increased 2%

La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries^® network written same-store sales increased 2%

GAAP operating income decreased by 34%. Non-GAAP operating income decreased by 37%

GAAP operating margin decreased 150 basis points to 7.2% and Non-GAAP operating margin decreased 190 basis points to 7.0%

GAAP diluted EPS of $0.63, with Non-GAAP diluted EPS of $0.62

Cash generated from operating activities was $26 million

Financial Narrative

La-Z-Boy Incorporated, a global leader in the manufacture and retail of residential furniture, reported first quarter results for the period ended July 29. Sales totaled $482 million, in line with guidance of $470 to $490 million, and a decrease of 20% against a year ago period that benefited from delivery of pandemic related backlog.

Company owned Retail written same-store sales for the first quarter increased 2% versus a year ago, led by strong store execution. Written sales for the entire La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries^® network also increased by 2%. Operating margin was 7.2% in the quarter on a GAAP basis and 7.0% on a Non-GAAP basis. Earnings per diluted share totaled $0.63 on a GAAP basis and $0.62 on a Non-GAAP basis.

Comments from CEO

Melinda D. Whittington, President and Chief Executive Officer of La-Z-Boy Incorporated, said, "As demonstrated by our positive written same-store sales, the La-Z-Boy brand continues to outperform in a challenging home furnishings environment. These results are reflective of the strength of the La-Z-Boy brand and focus on execution in our stores.”

“Further, we continued to execute on our Century Vision strategy, increasing our company owned Retail store count by four to 175 and opening incremental distribution via an enhanced channel strategy during the quarter. We remain confident we will consistently grow faster than the industry and deliver double digit operating margins over the long term," Whittington continued.

"While our delivered results reflect comparison versus delivery of record pandemic related backlog levels in last year's results, we are encouraged by positive written trends in both our company owned Retail segment and the broader La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries^® network during the quarter, which accelerated from May to July.”

Looking forward, given the overall macro-economic environment, we expect the furniture market to remain challenged. However, we are expecting some improvement in the back half of our fiscal year consistent with historic seasonality of consumers' furniture purchases.”

Whittington concluded, “As we navigate the challenging environment, we are focused on controlling what we can control, leveraging our brand and strong product offerings, and strengthening conversion levels. We are particularly pleased to introduce our new brand campaign, "Long Live the Lazy," which launched two weeks ago across TV and social media. We look forward to capitalizing on this new brand campaign and executing our business strategy to deliver solid results in the near term and drive our Century Vision over the long term."