Hooker Furnishings Reports Third Quarter Results

Hooker Furnishings Corporation reported consolidated net sales of $133.4 million for its fiscal 2022 third quarter ended October 31, 2021, a $16.3 million, or 11%, decrease compared to the prior year period.

Consolidated operating loss for the fiscal 2022 third quarter was $1.7 million, compared to $13 million of operating income in the prior year period. Net loss for the third quarter of fiscal 2022 was $1.2 million, or $0.10 per diluted share, as compared to a net income of $10.1 million, or $0.84 per diluted share, in the third quarter of fiscal 2021.

The third quarter revenue decline follows two consecutive quarters of double-digit sales and income gains at Hooker Furnishings and was driven by significantly reduced shipments in the Home Meridian segment (HMI) due to COVID-related factory closures in Vietnam and Malaysia.

The HMI sales decrease was partially offset by double-digit sales increases in the Hooker Branded and Domestic Upholstery segments versus the prior year period. These two segments have provided five consecutive quarters of higher net sales.

Consolidated operating income and margin decreased in the quarter primarily due to the sales volume reduction at HMI, along with higher freight and product costs. In addition, HMI had three unusual charges during the period, including $2.6 million in one-time order cancellation costs to exit the ready-to-assemble (RTA) furniture category. This was a move HMI made to improve long-term profitability by eliminating a low-margin category. Also, HMI experienced higher than expected chargebacks with two clubs channel customers which negatively impacted net sales and operating income by $1.9 million.

“Despite favorable demand for home furnishings and a historically strong order backlog triple typical levels for Hooker Furnishings, we were challenged by ongoing supply chain disruptions, especially the slower-than-expected reopening of Vietnam and Malaysia factories,” said Jeremy Hoff, chief executive officer. “The COVID-related factory closings in Vietnam and Malaysia began around August 1st and did not begin reopening until late in the quarter, and then at only about 25% capacity,” he said. “We expect the factories will begin to approach 50% capacity in the near future.”

“Industry-wide inflationary pressures also were a factor in reduced income,” Hoff said, along with “making some decisions now that will have short term adverse impacts but will strengthen the Company in the long term. For example, exiting the HMidea RTA category increased consolidated cost of goods sold by 200 bps and contributed to the quarterly loss, but we believe this move will save an additional $10 million in product and freight costs related to RTA products on order and help us focus our resources in the areas where we can be most competitive and profitable,” Hoff said.

For the fiscal 2022 nine-month period, consolidated operating income was $20.2 million compared to a $24.9 million operating loss in the prior year period. The loss last year was mainly attributable to $44.3 million in non-cash impairment charges on certain intangible assets due to the impact of the COVID crisis on the Company’s share price in the prior year.

Consolidated net income for the fiscal 2022 nine-month period was $15.7 million or $1.30 per diluted share, as compared to net loss of $19.0 million, or a loss of $1.61 per diluted share in the prior year period.

Segment Reporting: Hooker Branded

Net sales increased by $8.7 million, or 18.5%, in the Hooker Branded segment compared to the prior year quarter, driven by higher demand and inventory availability, as well as lower discounting.

Commenting on the consistent and vibrant growth in the segment, Hoff said, “The diversification of the Hooker Branded product portfolio to address a wide variety of lifestyles in our price points has had a major positive impact. The introduction of our new Commerce & Market accent furniture collection this summer, along with the ongoing strength of our Mélange accent collection, has significantly expanded our leadership position in the accent furniture category,” he said. “In addition, our strategy to rationalize our stocking inventory to focus on top sellers is helping us maximize shipping and production capacity, product flow and cash utilization.”

While sales continue to reflect strong demand and a healthy furniture demand environment, higher ocean freight and product cost inflation impacted gross margin in the segment, diluting the gains from sales increases in the third quarter. The Hooker Branded segment has implemented price increases to mitigate increased product costs; however, due to current order backlog levels and customer price changes taking effect at different times, the Company anticipates seeing the benefits of price increases in future periods as more products sold carry these increased prices. Additionally, the segment is starting to see another round of product and logistics costs increases which will likely necessitate additional customer price changes. Despite these adverse factors, the Hooker Branded segment reported $6.7 million in operating income, or an 11.9% operating margin. Incoming orders decreased slightly by 1.9% as compared to prior year period when business dramatically rebounded. Backlog remained historically high, nearly doubled as compared to the prior year third quarter end, when backlog was already elevated versus historical averages.

Segment Reporting: Home Meridian

The Home Meridian segment’s net sales decreased by $27.5 million, or 37.3%, compared to the prior year third quarter, driven by inventory unavailability due to the temporary, COVID-related closure of factories in Vietnam and Malaysia during the period. The segment reported a $10 million operating loss largely attributable to reduced shipments and higher product costs primarily from increased freight charges. In addition, higher than expected chargeback from two clubs channel customers and inventory cancellation costs related to HMidea’s RTA business contributed to the operating loss.

“Despite the disappointing financial results at HMI, we believe the challenges are short-term,” Hoff said. “We expect to see some improvements next quarter as the Asian factories increase capacity, but we don’t expect them to ramp up to full capacity until the second quarter of next year. We are encouraged that demand remains strong, with Home Meridian finishing the quarter with backlogs 12% higher than last year’s third quarter, but more than doubled as compared to pre-pandemic levels.”

“We were pleased in mid-October to open a highly-efficient, 800,000-square-foot new distribution center in Savannah, Georgia serving HMI and its customers,” Hoff continued. “The modern facility is a short distance from the Port of Savannah and will enable us to substantially increase operating efficiencies, reduce our carbon footprint and ship orders faster. Our goal is to put the Company in a best-in-class logistics position, and Savannah is a major step in that direction,” he said.

Segment Reporting: Domestic Upholstery

The Domestic Upholstery segment’s net sales increased by $2.6 million, or 10.3%, in the fiscal 2022 third quarter compared to the prior year period, and all three divisions of the segment reported over or close to 10% sales increases. Despite increased material costs, this segment reported operating income of $1.4 million, or 5.2% operating margin for the third quarter.

“We continued to be challenged by raw materials shortages, but we saw a lot of improvements later in the quarter, and we expect these positive trends to continue,” Hoff said. “Material cost inflation for most raw materials and higher freight surcharges partially offset the gains from increased sales. We believe our latest price increases will mitigate these higher costs in future periods. We are encouraged by historically high backlogs at the end of the fiscal 2022 third quarter at all three divisions.”

Segment Reporting: All Other

All Other’s net sales decreased by $134,000, or 4.0%, in the fiscal 2022 third quarter as compared to the prior year period, due to a 5.6% sales decrease at H Contract. On a positive note, as COVID vaccination rates have increased, especially among the senior population, H Contract’s incoming orders have increased three consecutive quarters in fiscal 2022 and finished the quarter with backlog 150% higher than the prior year third quarter end. Despite the sales decrease, All Other still reported a 10.7% operating margin for the quarter.

Cash, Debt and Inventory

Cash and cash equivalents stood at $57.2 million at fiscal 2022 third quarter-end, down $8.6 million compared to the balance at the fiscal 2021 year-end as the Company increased inventory levels somewhat to service the high level of demand it has experienced all year. During the first nine months of fiscal 2022, the Company used cash on hand and $5 million generated from operations to pay $6.4 million in cash dividends to our shareholders and $6.6 million of capital expenditures to enhance our business systems and facilities.

Outlook

“Consumer and retail demand remain historically strong, with consolidated backlogs nearly triple compared to pre-pandemic level,” Hoff said. “However, we expect some level of continued supply chain turbulence and product and raw materials cost inflation to impact our net sales and income in the short term, at least through the second quarter of next fiscal year.”

“We expect our Hooker Branded and Domestic Upholstery segments will continue to be less challenged than Home Meridian primarily due to more than 70% of Home Meridian’s business being direct container versus domestic warehouse distribution. In addition, higher freight costs have a greater impact as a percentage on lower price points for HMI. In the shorter-to-medium-term, we look forward to the expected efficiencies and cost savings from HMI’s new Savannah facility. The facility puts us in an excellent position to grow HMI’s warehouse business.”

“We will continue to focus on items we can control such as developing relevant new products to meet consumer needs, operational improvements, managing overhead and costs, and executing our strategic growth initiatives. We remain very optimistic as we manage through a challenging environment,” Hoff said.

Dividends

On December 7, 2021, the Company’s board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.20 per share, an increase of $0.02, or 11%, over the most recent dividend, payable on December 31, 2021, to shareholders of record at December 17, 2021.

For the full press release, click here.

About Hooker Furniture

Hooker Furniture Corporation, in its 98th year of business, is a designer, marketer and importer of casegoods (wooden and metal furniture), leather furniture and fabric-upholstered furniture for the residential, hospitality and contract markets. The Company also domestically manufactures premium residential custom leather and custom fabric-upholstered furniture. It is ranked among the nation’s largest publicly traded furniture sources, based on 2020 shipments to U.S. retailers, according to a 2021 survey by a leading trade publication. Major casegoods product categories include home entertainment, home office, accent, dining, and bedroom furniture in the upper-medium price points sold under the Hooker Furniture brand. Hooker’s residential upholstered seating product lines include Bradington-Young, a specialist in upscale motion and stationary leather furniture, Sam Moore Furniture, a specialist in upscale occasional chairs, settees, sofas and sectional seating with an emphasis on cover-to-frame customization, Hooker Upholstery, imported upholstered furniture targeted at the upper-medium price-range and Shenandoah Furniture, an upscale upholstered furniture company specializing in private label sectionals, modulars, sofas, chairs, ottomans, benches, beds and dining chairs in the upper-medium price points for lifestyle specialty retailers. The H Contract product line supplies upholstered seating and casegoods to upscale senior living facilities. The Home Meridian division addresses more moderate price points and channels of distribution not currently served by other Hooker Furniture divisions or brands. Home Meridian’s brands include Accentrics Home, home furnishings centered around an eclectic mix of unique pieces and materials that offer a fresh take on home fashion, Pulaski Furniture, casegoods covering the complete design spectrum in a wide range of bedroom, dining room, accent and display cabinets at medium price points, Samuel Lawrence Furniture, value-conscious offerings in bedroom, dining room, home office and youth furnishings, Prime Resources, value-conscious imported leather upholstered furniture, Samuel Lawrence Hospitality, a designer and supplier of hotel furnishings, and HMidea, 2019 start-up that provides better-quality, ready-to-assemble furniture to mass marketers and e-commerce customers and includes our Clubs channel. Hooker Furniture Corporation’s corporate offices and upholstery manufacturing facilities are located in Virginia and North Carolina, with showrooms in High Point, N.C. and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The company operates distribution centers in North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, California and Vietnam. Please visit our websites hookerfurniture.com, bradington-young.com, sammoore.com, hcontractfurniture.com, homemeridian.com, pulaskifurniture.com, accentricshome.com and slh-co.com.

Contact:

Paul A. Huckfeldt – Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer – (276) 666-3949

Source: Hooker Furniture Corporation