Flooring Podcast

Host’s Geoff Greeley on Maintenance and the CRI Seal of Approval Program – Part 2

July 23, 2007—Geoff Greeley, Director of Marketing and Training, Racine Industries, in the second part of a three-part series discusses the Carpet & Rug Institute’s (CRI) Seal of Approval program for carpet maintenance, the way the talk surrounding the program in the maintenance community. Greeley talks about the development of the program initially for hot water extraction and its current expansion into testing dry methods and he also reviews some of the comments he has heard for members of the maintenance community.

Mohawk Industries 2Q Conference Call –Financial Report

July 23, 2007—The financial report of Mohawk Industries second quarter earnings conference call, presented by Mohawk CFO, Frank Boykin.

Mohawk Industries 2Q Conference Call – Part 1 (17:12)

July 23, 2007—The first part of a two-part series presenting excerpts from Mohawk Industries second quarter earnings conference call, this segment features the opening remarks of Mohawk Chairman & CEO Jeff Lorberbaum and excerpts from the question and answer session with the answers provided by Lorberbaum and CFO, Frank Boykin.

Host’s Geoff Greeley on Maintenance, the Mill, the Retailer and the Consumer -Part 1 (10:13)

July 20, 2007—Geoff Greeley, Director of Marketing and Training, Racine Industries, in the first part of a three-part series offers some historical prospective on the floor covering industry’s maintenance sector discussing the manufacturing sector’s increased interest in maintenance over the past several years. Greeley discusses the retail community’s approach to maintenance and consumer attitudes about carpet maintenance as well as the growing interest in environmentally-safe cleaning chemicals and methods.

Larry Winter, Avoiding Tax Pitfalls

July 19, 2007—Larry Winter, Winter and Scoggins CPAs discusses changes in this year’s tax laws that affect businesses both large and small how retailers and manufacturers can best prepare themselves to be in compliance and avoid tax pit falls.

Santo Torcivia Analyzes the Industry’s Hard Surface Sector – Part 4 (11:58)

July 19, 2007—Santo Torcivia, President of the consulting firm, Market Insights/Torcivia and publisher of US FLOOReport, in the final part of a four-part series discusses the retooling of Home Depot’s floor covering department under the company’s new chairman and CEO Frank Blake. Torcivia talks about the options available to the company in the area of installation and the approach it might take to compete with Lowe’s in the floor covering arena.

Santo Torcivia Analyzes the Large Independents – Part 3 (12:22)

July 18, 2007—Santo Torcivia, President of the consulting firm, Market Insights/Torcivia and publisher of US FLOOReport, in the third part of a four-part series discusses the affect that Lumber Liquidators, Empire Carpet and Floor & Decor are having on the installation and the independent retail community and his expectations how these large specialty players will ultimately become. Also discussed are the moves on the part of Cosco and Sam’s Club to entered the floor covering arena and what this could affect the industry’s retail community.

Santo Torcivia Analyzes the Industry’s Hard Surface Sector – Part 2 (11:03)

July 17, 2007—Santo Torcivia, President of the consulting firm, Market Insights/Torcivia and publisher of US FLOOReport, in the second part of a four-part series, discusses factors that have had the greatest impact on the industry’s distribution channels, including the big box and large specialty retailers as well as imports. Torcivia shares his thoughts on how the channels of distribution will change in the decade ahead, the changing relationship between distributors and retailers. Also discussed are shifts within the installation community, the growing trend that is seeing installers increasingly moonlighting and expanding at the expense of independent retailers.

Santo Torcivia Discusses Mohawk's Hardwood Acquisition – Part 1

July 16, 2007—Santo Torcivia, President of the consulting firm, Market Insights/Torcivia and publisher of US FLOOReport, in the first part of a four-part series discusses Mohawk’s acquisition of four hardwood flooring plants from Columbia, and the events that lead up to Columbia decision to sell the plants. Torvicia talks about the state of the plants in question, Mohawk’s plan to invest in the operations the its distribution and marketing plans for the flooring produced by the Columbia plants as well as his take on how this acquisition might affect Mohawk’s ability to become involved in the Armstrong auction.

Barker on the Market (35:54)

July 13, 2007—Mike Barker, Investment and Retirement Management discusses Mohawk and the moves the company’s shares have made over the past several weeks and some of the comments made by analysts during that period of time. Barker talks about the company’s technicals, his thoughts on the possibility of a stock split and Mohawk’s upcoming earnings report. Also discussed is the housing market, the most recent downward adjustment to the National Association of Realtors housing forecast, the relationship of housing to retail spending numbers, the level of volatility in the stock market going forward and the Fed chairman Bernanke’s discussion about real inflation levels.