Hooker Furniture Corp. on Wednesday reported lower-than-expected third-quarter profit as sales rose slightly but trailed Wall Street estimates.

The company said business had improved “marginally” since August and was expected to get better in fall and winter.

Earnings came to $1.2 million, or 10 cents a share, up 82 percent from profit of $664,000, or 6 cents a share, a year earlier.

The latest results included after-tax charges of $1.8 million, or 15 cents a share, tied to the closure of a Virginia plant. Excluding the charge, earnings came to 25 cents a share, shy of the 32 cents expected by analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.

Sales rose 0.7 percent to $83 million, shy of analysts’ estimates of $83.63 million, according to Reuters Estimates. Read more »

PENANG furniture makers are up in arms over the reversal of a Government decision to tighten an export ban on sawn rubberwood exports, by allowing finger-jointed planks to be sold overseas.

They claim this “about-turn” has placed their businesses in jeopardy.

“The method of finger-joints on rubberwood sawn timber goes against the Cabinet policy, serves no purpose from any engineering point of view and merely gives rise to a different category of rubberwood sawn timber,” Penang Furniture Manufacturers and Dealers Association (PFMDA) president Yeoh Ee Wan told the Business Times.

The PFMDA comprises 200 members and comes under the umbrella of the Malaysian Furniture Entrepreneurs Association which is made up of 2,000 member companies.

Yeoh said Malaysian exports of finger-jointed sawn timber this year are projected to total 200,000 tonnes and valued at RM300 million.

“Those engaged in this business comprise 20-30 upstream timber exporters who are located in the northern region and Klang Valley. Read more »

It’s not too easy for Chinese furniture manufacturers to open exhibition space in U.S. furniture markets, much less set up operations here – just ask the Chinese.

During an informal dinner before the recent Furniture China 2006 International Expo began, Chinese furniture industry officials, meeting with the trade delegation from Mississippi, North Carolina and other Appalachian Region states, expressed frustration at getting Chinese firms to set up shop in the states, chiefly citing bureaucratic red tape.

And then there’s the sentiment over the growing trade deficit between the U.S. and China.

But Tupelo Furniture Market CEO V.M. Cleveland said Chinese product offerings are a factor, too.

He spent an entire day at the Shanghai market visiting all the exhibitors, from U.S. to European to Asian companies. While intrigued by much of what he saw, Cleveland didn’t think there would be a huge migration of Chinese furniture companies coming to the U.S., at least not by themselves. Read more »

Furniture retailer Storehouse Inc. said on Thursday it expects to announce a sale by Oct. 6 following the bankruptcy filing of parent company Rowe Cos. earlier this week.

“We are in very active discussions with several groups who have expressed interest in buying Storehouse,” Dixon Bartlett, Storehouse senior vice president of merchandising and marketing, told Reuters in an interview.

These groups include strategic business partners, he added.

When asked if other furniture retailers were among potential acquirers, Bartlett said they were “a possibility, but I don’t think a probability.” Read more »

After a slow summer for furniture stores, some in the industry are hoping that strong Labor Day sales will send furniture buyers to an invitation-only “premarket” in downtown High Point this week with a more optimistic outlook. Starting Monday, some furniture showrooms will open their doors for the informal, invitation-only event to some top furniture retailers.

Premarket, held roughly one month before the official High Point Market — scheduled for Oct. 16-22 — was at one time critical for the home furnishings industry.

Although there is no official sponsor for the event, it usually attracts about 2,750 visitors. This compares with the nearly 100,000 visitors that were registered for the April furniture market. Tourism officials estimate premarket pumps about $1.3 million into local hotels, restaurants and shopping centers. Read more »

Shares of furniture makers and retailers fell on Thursday, a day after Stanley Furniture Co. cut its profit and revenue forecasts for the third quarter and full year, due to sluggish retail sales.

Shares of Stanley Furniture slid $1.78, or 7.7 percent, to $20.99 on the Nasdaq. On the New York Stock Exchange, Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. shares fell 96 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $35.15; Steelcase Inc. shares shed 26 cents to $14.67, and Furniture Brands International Inc. shares fell 77 cents, or 3.9 percent, to $18.85.

After Wednesday’s close, Stanley Furniture said its third quarter sales to date have been weaker than expected, which it blamed on overall industry conditions. The Stanleytown, Va., company makes wood furniture aimed at the upper-medium price range.

Furniture companies’ shares have been pressured in recent weeks by the slowing housing market and higher energy prices, which have hurt demand for big-ticket items. Read more »

The retail furniture industry is apparently having the stuffing beat out of it these days. Over the past year, furniture makers are generally trading lower than they were previously, beset by an apparent leak in the housing bubble, increased imports from China, and rising oil prices.

Just the other day, Motley Fool Hidden Gems recommendation Stanley Furniture (Nasdaq: STLY) announced expectations that third-quarter sales will be below its prior estimates, actually declining by 8% to 10%, and that earnings will be in the range of $0.27 to $0.29, well below the $0.38 to $0.41 it previously indicated. Last month, La-Z-Boy (NYSE: LZB) fell 7% below its estimates. And another Hidden Gems recommendation, Hooker Furniture (Nasdaq: HOFT), revealed in July that despite sales increasing 2%, it also had rising inventories that outstripped sales, an event that often precedes future sales issues.

The industry malaise is widening concern beyond just the furniture makers. Fabric suppliers, for example, are feeling the pinch as the furniture makers cut back. Culp (NYSE: CFI), which makes upholstery and bedding fabrics, is expecting second-quarter sales to be off 10% from last year. Read more »

You asked, they responded. Dusty Jerzak and T.J. Renner, the furniture makers featured in the Aug. 23 Home + Garden cover story, “A Homemade House,” were inundated with e-mails requesting tours of their Brooklyn Center home. So they decided to hold an open house from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Visitors are asked to bring a few nonperishable food items or a small donation to a local food bank. “One hundred percent of all proceeds will be donated,” Jerzak said. If interested in attending, please RSVP to dusty@jdwoodshop.com or 612-916-5020 to let him know how many will be attending and on which day. Those who RSVP will receive directions to the home.

Courtlynn Schneider would have been 4 years old on Friday. Instead of throwing a party, her family plans to release balloons with a note, telling her story. It’s one more way Courtlynn’s Mother is spreading the word about tipping furniture.

Courtlynn died in Mazomanie on Christmas Day, 2005, after a dresser with a TV on top fell, and Courtlynn was crushed under the weight.

3 year old Collin Barberino of Waunakee died in December of 2004, when he climbed his dresser, and it fell on him. Read more »

Global participants will display their furniture, home products and kitchen appliances at a trade fair here next week that will also feature a series of seminars to be addressed by eminent designers.

‘Over 70 international participants are expected to take part in the Index International Trade Fair 2006, including some of the world’s renowned furniture makers and home and kitchen appliance producers from Italy, Germany, Brazil, China, Thailand, Malaysia and the US,’ said Liyakat Ali Khan, managing director of Universal Expositions Ltd.

The firm is organising the trade fair in collaboration with Koelnmesse, a Germany-based global leader in organising trade fairs. Read more »