Ethan Allen Sales Decline

April 24, 2007  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on April 2007 Ethan Allen Interiors, Danbury, Conn., reported a 7.7 percent decline in net delivered sales Tuesday for its first quarter, but said positive sales trends have emerged in recent weeks.

Net delivered sales for the quarter totaled $246.5 million. Net income was $17.5 million-- or 54 cents per share--which was down from $20 million in the same period a year ago.

Chairman and CEO Farooq Kathwari said, €œWe are pleased to report quarterly operating earnings of 11.4 percent of sales (in the first quarter) despite continued softness within the home furnishings retail environment and a 7.7 percent decline in sales. As we have stated previously, results for the March 2006 quarter were favorably impacted by stronger economic conditions and our initiative to reduce lead times associated with the delivery of our products to the consumer, thereby substantially reducing our backlog during that period.€Commenting on business trends, Kathwari said, €œWhile we recognize that the home furnishings retail environment remains uncertain, some positive trends have emerged in recent weeks. In addition, we continue to believe that our strategic initiatives provide us stronger positioning as conditions improve. As a result, we believe that we have the opportunity to generate earnings per share for the quarter ended June 30, 2007 in line with the current range of analyst estimates.€

For the nine months ended March 31, net delivered sales totaled $746.8 million, down from $794.4 million in the prior year. Net delivered sales for the company€™s retail division increased 0.9 percent to $511.1 million while whole sale sales decreased 11.6 million to $493.2 million.