Herman Miller Sees Earnings Rise
Herman Miller Sales Up a Modest 2.2%, but Earnings Rise 30% for Office and Home Furniture Manufacturer.
March 2008
Office furniture maker Herman Miller, which also has residential collections, announced Wednesday that earnings per share increased 30 percent to 65 cents in the company’s third quarter. Sales for the quarter increased 2.2 percent, and company officials said the hike in earnings per share came as a result of a 25.7 percent increase in operating earnings and previously announced capital structure charges that reduced the average shares outstanding for the Zeeland, Mich.-based company.
“The strong improvement in our earnings per share reflects the significant changes we made last quarter to improve our business performance and better leverage our balance sheet,” said CEO Brian Walker. “During the quarter we also closed on the previously announced acquisition of Brandrud, a manufacturer of healthcare furnishings.”
Orders totaled $454.2 million during the quarter, which was down 0.8 percent from a year ago, but CFO Curt Pullen said the company saw positives after adjusting for price increases that went into effect last year, stating “Despite the effects of the traditional seasonal slowdown, we once again achieved year-over-year growth in sales, orders, and backlog after adjusting for the impact of last year’s price increase. More importantly, we have begun to see the benefits of our efforts to diversify the company’s revenue base. Slowing growth in our U.S. office furniture business was more than offset by gains in our health care and international businesses.”
“The strong improvement in our earnings per share reflects the significant changes we made last quarter to improve our business performance and better leverage our balance sheet,” said CEO Brian Walker. “During the quarter we also closed on the previously announced acquisition of Brandrud, a manufacturer of healthcare furnishings.”
Orders totaled $454.2 million during the quarter, which was down 0.8 percent from a year ago, but CFO Curt Pullen said the company saw positives after adjusting for price increases that went into effect last year, stating “Despite the effects of the traditional seasonal slowdown, we once again achieved year-over-year growth in sales, orders, and backlog after adjusting for the impact of last year’s price increase. More importantly, we have begun to see the benefits of our efforts to diversify the company’s revenue base. Slowing growth in our U.S. office furniture business was more than offset by gains in our health care and international businesses.”
