La-Z-Boy Q4 Profit Rises - Update

6/19/2012 5:39 PM ET

Home furniture maker La-Z-Boy Inc. (LZB: Quote), Tuesday reported a surge in profit for the fourth quarter, driven mainly by a hefty one-time gain.

Monroe, Michigan-based La-Z-Boy's fourth-quarter profit improved to $19.6 million or $0.37 per share from $10.3 million or $0.19 per share in the same quarter last year.

Results for the quarter were helped mainly by income from Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of $0.19 per share, while prior-year quarter results included a $0.05 per share impairment of long-lived assets.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.26 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

La-Z-Boy, which makes namesake living-room recliners, said sales for the fourth quarter dropped 3.4 percent to $327.4 million from $338.9 million last year. Wall Street analysts on a consensus estimated revenues of $333.72 million for the quarter.

Same-store written sales for the 306 La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries store network increased 10 percent for the quarter.

At wholesale segment, upholstery, which accounts for most of the business, sales increased to $266.9 million from $264.8 million last year, while casegoods sales slipped to $35.3 million from $40.7 million.

At retail segment, delivered sales dropped 4.7 percent from the prior year.

Moving forward, Chief Executive Kurt Darrow said, "Given the strength of our brand, the breadth of our branded distribution network, plans for store growth and the level of same-store-sales improvements over the past 18 months, La-Z-Boy Incorporated is positioned to continue to improve its market share and will further capitalize on any strengthening in the economy, particularly consumer confidence and the housing market."

LZB closed Tuesday's trading at $13.13, up 0.92%, on a volume of 0.6 million shares, on the NYSE. The stock further gained 3.58% in after-hours trading.