La-Z-Boy Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results

June 17, 2025  by Karen Parrish in Business Strategy, Industry   

Fiscal 2025 Fourth Quarter Highlights:

- Consolidated delivered sales of $571 million

                  - Up 3% versus prior year

- Retail segment delivered sales increased 8%

         - Company-owned La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries^® network grew by a total of six stores; 203 company-owned store base now represents 55% of total network

- Wholesale segment delivered sales increased 2%

- GAAP operating margin of 5.2%; adjusted⁽¹⁾ operating margin of 9.4%, flat versus the year ago period

- GAAP diluted EPS of $0.36 and adjusted⁽¹⁾ diluted EPS of $0.92, both of which include a $0.10 impact from unfavorable foreign tax discrete items

- Delivered sales exceeded high end of guidance range and adjusted⁽¹⁾ operating margin at high end of guidance range

- Generated $62 million in operating cash flow for the quarter, up 17% versus prior year

Fiscal 2025 Highlights:

- Consolidated delivered sales of $2.1 billion
                  - Up 3% versus prior year

- Retail segment delivered sales increased 5%
-  Added 11 newly opened stores, one of the largest yearly expansions in company history, and acquired seven independent La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries^® stores

- Wholesale segment delivered sales increased 2%

- Joybird delivered sales increased 5%

- GAAP operating margin of 6.4%; adjusted⁽¹⁾ operating margin of 7.6%, down 20 basis points versus a year ago

- GAAP diluted EPS of $2.35 and adjusted⁽¹⁾ diluted EPS of $2.92, both of which include a $0.10 impact from unfavorable foreign tax discrete items

- Generated $187 million in operating cash flow for the year, up 18% versus prior year

- Returned $113 million to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends
- Increased quarterly dividend by 10% to $0.22 in third quarter, the fourth consecutive annual dividend increase

For the quarter, sales totaled $571 million, growing 3% against the prior year comparable period. Operating margin was 5.2% for the quarter on a GAAP basis and 9.4% on an adjusted⁽¹⁾ basis. Diluted earnings per share totaled $0.36 on a GAAP basis and $0.92 on an adjusted⁽¹⁾ basis, both of which include a $0.10 impact from unfavorable foreign tax discrete items. The company returned $113 million to shareholders for the year, up over 30% versus the prior year.

Fourth quarter total written sales for the Retail segment (company-owned La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries^®) grew 3% versus a year ago and written same-store sales (which exclude the impact of newly opened stores and newly acquired stores) were down 5% versus a year ago. Continued challenges in the housing market with stubbornly high mortgage rates and increased volatility in the global economy negatively influenced consumer sentiment and had an adverse impact on industry trends. Industry data for the quarter was mixed with public company peers noting same-store sales of relatively flat to declines in the mid-teen range, while the broader industry data as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau indicated an increase in the mid-single digits.

Melinda D. Whittington, Board Chair, president and CEO of La-Z-Boy Incorporated, said, “Our fourth quarter results reflect the ongoing strengthening of our brand and operations under our Century Vision strategy. We executed well throughout the year with sales growth across all of our segments and four consecutive quarters of top line growth, even as the industry contends with depressed housing fundamentals and growing macro uncertainty."

"We are controlling what we can control with distinct strategies and initiatives across each of our businesses. In Retail, we continue to grow our direct-to-consumer business, own the entire end-to-end consumer experience, and develop more value-added consumer insights. Through opening net new stores and also acquiring existing independent La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries^®, we reached a new milestone in the quarter, growing our company-owned store footprint to over 200 stores, nearly doubling our store count over the last 10 years, and now owning 55% of the total network."

"In Wholesale, we continue to expand our brand reach with compatible strategic partners to serve more consumers. Additionally, we are successfully driving scale and efficiencies in our supply chain. This is highlighted by our core North America La-Z-Boy wholesale business achieving sales growth and margin expansion for four consecutive quarters during fiscal 2025 and continuing to strengthen as we initiate our multi-year distribution and delivery redesign.”

Whittington added, “Even as we expect global economic uncertainty to continue challenging consumers in the near term, we are confident in the strength of our business model to outperform our peers and deliver strong financial performance. La-Z-Boy is an iconic brand in a highly fragmented market. We have successfully navigated challenging times throughout our 98-year history by delivering comfort and quality to our consumers. A strong balance sheet combined with an agile supply chain provides us a position of strength in the industry. We will continue to execute our playbook to mitigate an ever changing environment and drive long-term profitable growth and returns for all stakeholders.”

First Quarter Outlook:
Taylor Luebke, SVP and chief financial officer of La-Z-Boy Incorporated, said, “We delivered growth and strong financial results in what was another challenging year for the industry. We continue to control what we can control and are executing against our Century Vision strategy, which will enable growth through our centennial and beyond. I am pleased with our progress, and our ability to deliver results at or above the high end of our sales and margin expectations for the fourth quarter, even in light of considerable volatility during the quarter. Given higher levels of uncertainty in the broader economic climate, we expect the industry outlook to continue to be volatile, and we are planning prudently to navigate the year ahead. We expect to continue to outperform the industry, driven by growth in our company-owned Retail segment and core North America La-Z-Boy wholesale business. Assuming no significant changes in external factors, we expect fiscal first quarter sales to be in the range of $490-$510 million, reflecting modest growth in a challenged consumer environment. We expect adjusted operating margin⁽²⁾ to be in the range of 5.5-7.0%, including the impact of transitory pressure from our UK and Joybird businesses, as well as investment in our distribution network and home delivery redesign project. Also, as a reminder, our first quarter is generally the lowest sales and margin quarter in the fiscal year due to seasonally lower industry sales and our annual week-long plant shutdown.”

To see the full report, visit the investor's site to see the Full Results.

Conference Call:
The call will be webcast live, with corresponding slides, and archived on the internet. It will be available at https://lazboy.gcs-web.com/. A telephone replay will be available for a week following the call. This replay will be accessible to callers from the U.S. and Canada at (877) 481-4010 and to international callers at (919) 882-2331. Enter Replay Passcode: 52510. The webcast replay will be available for one year.