Furniture Brands moves to loss in 1st quarter
Furniture Brands moves to loss in 1st quarter; sales fall at Thomasville company-owned stores
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Furniture Brands International Inc. moved to a loss in its first quarter, dragged down by some charges as sales declined at its Thomasville company-owned stores.
The furniture company lost $21.2 million, or 38 cents per share, for the three months ended March 30. That compares with a profit of $379,000, or 1 cent per share, a year ago.
The current quarter included $2.9 million in charges related to product rationalization and other items.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast a loss of 2 cents per share.
Revenue fell 11 percent to $254.7 million from $287.3 million as sales at its Thomasville company-owned stores dropped to $26.9 million from $27.5 million. There were 49 Thomasville company-owned stores in the current quarter compared with 48 stores in the prior-year period.
Wall Street was looking for higher revenue of $290.3 million.
Revenue for stores open more than 15 months dropped 2.3 percent. This figure is a key gauge of a retailer's health because it excludes results from stores recently opened or closed.
