Furniture Brands International Inc. chairman and CEO, W.G. “Mickey” Holliman, revealed a more positive forecast for the coming quarter but warned that “challenging” retail conditions will have an adverse affect on sales.

Holliman said in a statement, “We continue to pursue cost savings and strategic opportunities in light of these difficult conditions.

“Though business conditions remain challenging, we now expect our net sales for the quarter to be down just under 12 percent, as opposed to the 15 percent we forecasted in early May. As a result, we now expect our net earnings per diluted common share to reflect a loss of 3 to 7 cents. This includes the effect of 2 cents in restructuring, asset impairment and severance charges.”

The firm plans to report results for the second quarter of 2007 on Aug. 1.

During the first quarter ended March 31, Furniture Brands announced plans to eliminate about 330 employees companywide, which it predicts will save the firm about $13 million annually. Four executive- and administrative-level jobs were cut in St. Louis.

St. Louis-based Furniture Brands International Inc. (NYSE: FBN) manufactures furniture under the Thomasville, Henredon, Drexel Heritage, Maitland-Smith, Broyhill and Lane brands.

Information from: stlouis.bizjournals.com

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 14th, 2007 at 11:51 am and is filed under Furniture. Tags: Broyhill, Drexel Heritage, Exel, Furniture, Furniture Brands International, Furniture Brands International Inc., Lane, Maitland-Smith, retail, Set, St. Louis, Thomasville, W.G. "Mickey" Holliman, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.