Grand Rapids, MI, September 23--Steelcase Inc. swung back to a quarterly profit from the previous quarter, but warned that rising steel prices would hurt results going forward.
The company reported a net profit of $7.3 million, or 5 cents a share, for the fiscal second quarter ended Aug. 27, down from $18.1 million, or 12 cents a share, a year earlier. In the previous quarter, Steelcase had a net loss of $5.7 million.
The latest quarter included restructuring charges totaling $1.4 million after-tax, lower than anticipated.
Four analysts were expecting Steelcase to post a profit of about a penny a share before one-time items, according to Reuters Estimates. Steelcase said in June it expected second-quarter results to range from break-even to a loss of 5 cents a share, after restructuring charges.
Sales in the quarter ended Aug. 27 rose 6.4 percent from last year to $651 million.
The company said in June it expected second-quarter sales in the range of $643 million to $661 million.
Revenue in the quarter included $21 million of sales from newly consolidated dealers and $8.3 million from steel surcharges, both higher than the company had forecast. Sales also benefited by $8.6 million from favorable currency translation effects in the company's international business.
The company also forecast third-quarter earnings in the range of break even to 5 cents a share, including expected restructuring charges of $1 million to $3 million after taxes.
It expects third-quarter sales to rise 4 to 8 percent from last year, and finish similar to the second quarter. The third-quarter sales are expected to include about $25 million from the newly consolidated dealers and $8 million from steel surcharges.
