Flooring Podcast

Bart Levich, The Floor Club – Part 2 (13:26)

May 8, 2006—Bart Levich, President, The Floor Club, with locations in the Detroit area, in the second part of a three-part series, discusses the basic business proposition of a closed-showroom, wholesale operation that services designers, architects and other trade professionals and the margins of companies with business models of this type. Levich also discusses his product philosophy, the breath of product each location carries and his approach toward trading up, selling style and fashion and his approach to providing service.

Bart Levich, The Floor Club – Part 3 (12:43)

May 8, 2006—Bart Levich, President, The Floor Club, with locations in the Detroit area, in the final part of a three-part series, discusses his operation’s customer base and their changing tastes in floor covering, the growth of hardwood and the decline in carpet among his customer base. Levich also discusses the company’s approach to technology and the role technology plays in its day-to-day business, his philosophy toward dealing with suppliers, and the claims process in 2006 and the problems that have accompanied mega-suppliers.

Analyst Keith Hughes Looks at the 1Q at Mohawk and the Industry – Part 2 (15:35)

May 4, 2006—Keith Hughes, Director in Equity Research, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, in the final part of a two-part series, continues his look at the performance of Mohawk during the first-quarter, the likelihood that the company, after the acquisition of Unilin, would be interested in acquiring Armstrong. Hughes discusses the company’s debt load and his expectations for retiring that debt, the Supreme Court case involving Mohawk and how that plays in the company’s future and the company’s second quarter guidance.

Analyst Keith Hughes Looks at the 1Q at Mohawk and the Industry – Part 1 (16:22)

May 4, 2006—Keith Hughes, Director in Equity Research, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, in the first part of a two part series, looks back at the first-quarter in floor covering market industry-wide discussing the housing and replacement sectors and their relationship to consumer confidence. Hughes discusses the commercial sector, the DalTile and Unilin units and their performance during the quarter and how LIFO charges played into the company’s quarterly results.

Analyst Keith Hughes Looks at the 1Q at Interface (7:07)

May 4, 2006—Keith Hughes, Director in Equity Research, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey looks the commercial sector of the floor covering industry and his expectations for the sector and discusses the performance of Interface during the quarter, the company’s Bentley Prince Street and fabrics unit and the company progress at reducing its debt load. Hughes also shares his expectations for the company’s 2Q and year-end.

NWFA, CEO Ed Korczak and the 2006 Education Conference and Wood Flooring Expo – Part 2 (11:01)

May 4, 2006—Ed Korczak, Executive Director and CEO, National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA), in the second part of a two-part series, discusses the association's recent Wood flooring Expo and a report from the Environmental Investigation Agency, regarding the illegal logging of merbau logs from the Papua Province of Indonesia and the stance that the NWFA and many of the association’s members have taken with regard to the marketing of flooring made with merbau in the U.S., and his expectations as to how this situation might ultimately be worked out.

NWFA, CEO Ed Korczak and the 2006 Education Conference and Wood Flooring Expo – Part 1 (20:33))

May 4, 2006—Ed Korczak, Executive Director and CEO, National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA), in the first part of a two-part series, reviews the association’s recently concluded Education Conference and Wood Flooring Expo at the Baltimore Baltimore Convention Center. Korczak discusses the show’s attendance, which broke the previous record, and the events and seminars that took place during the show. Also talks about the association and some of the growth and changes within the wood flooring sector.

Faus Group President Juan Flores and the Company’s Rapid U.S. Expansion (23:35)

May 3, 2006—Juan Flores, President, Faus Group discusses the progress at the company’s new U.S. headquarters and manufacturing facility in Georgia and the timetable for the start-up of production. Flores also talks about the recent management buyout of the company and what that means for the company’s aggressive global expansion program and how this ownership shift will positively impact the company’s U.S, customer base. Also discussed is the rapid expansion of the Faus distribution network, the launch of its new high-end Americana Collection and pending launch the brand-new product line this fall launch with what has been described as new, never seen before innovations.

Floor Focus’ Frank O’Neill and the Week in the Floor Covering Industry (34:12)

May 2, 2006—Frank O’Neill, Publisher, Floor Focus’ Frank O’Neill discusses: The recent Starnet convention in Bal Harbour, FL and changes that have occurred within the organization over the last year; Mohawk’s first-quarter earnings results and the RICO case involving Mohawk that was heard by the Supreme Court last week; The earnings report released by Armstrong, The Dixie Group's first-quarter earnings and; The management buy-out of Faus Group by senior management.

Consumer Research Expert Lis Calandrino on Focus Groups – Part 1 (12:51)

April 29, 2006—Lis Calandrino, Director of Consumer Research, Fabulous Floors magazine and focus group facilitator, in the first part of a three-part series, discusses the basics of focus group and how they’re conducted. Calandrino shares some of the extraordinary information she has gathered from floor covering consumers during focus group sessions and some of the comments panelists have made about floor covering products, programs and merchandising as well some of the reactions consumers have made to the condition of retail stores and to retail sales people. She also talks about the process of actually fulfilling consumer wants and an upcoming joint venture between and Fabulous Floors and FloorRadio that will conduct consumer focus groups on behalf of retailers and suppliers.