St. Louis, MO, December 9, 2005--Furniture Brands International Inc. said business was improving as a rebound in consumer confidence, a fall in energy costs and stabilizing foam availability have reduced some uncertainties.
The company said business was "relatively strong" at its high-end brands, which include Thomasville, Drexel Heritage and Henredon. Improvement was cited at Lane, one of its mid-priced brands.
Broyhill, a mid-priced brand that has seen sales weakness this year, continues to struggle as it reorganizes, Furniture Brands said in a statement.
The company expects fourth-quarter earnings of $0.21 to $0.25 a share, which includes the effect of $0.08 in charges. Analysts on average expect $0.25 a share.
The expected results would be a decrease from profit of $0.45 in the year-earlier fourth quarter.
In October, the company said it expected net earnings for the fourth period of $0.19 to $0.23 a share, including the effect of $0.04 in charges. Since then, it announced the closure of two Broyhill facilities that it said would result in additional fourth-quarter charges of $0.04 a share.
Net sales for the fourth quarter are expected to be flat to down slightly, better than the late October forecast of a sales decrease in the low single digits.
Furniture Brands is closing and consolidating plants to improve performance. Recently, it has announced plant closures at Broyhill and said it would merge back-office functions at some of its higher-end subsi
