Office furniture maker Steelcase Inc. (SCS), Wednesday posted a loss for the fourth quarter, as compared to a profit last year, hurt mainly by impairment charges and restructuring costs. The company also boosted its dividend.
Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Steelcase reported fourth-quarter loss of $27.5 million or $0.22 per share, compared to a profit of $14.9 million or $0.11 per share last year.
Steelcase fourth-quarter results included restructuring costs of about $0.10 per share. The results also included goodwill impairment charges, tax valuation allowance adjustments, foreign tax credit benefits and environmental reserve adjustments, which altogether reduced earnings by about $0.31 per share.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.19 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Commenting on the results, Chief Executive James Hackett said, "While a number of unusual items impacted our results this quarter, the underlying business otherwise performed largely as expected."
Steelcase, which designs and manufactures furniture and interior architectural products, said its revenue for the fourth-quarter grew $721.4 million from $690.2 million last year. Analysts expected revenues of $709.47 million for the quarter.
Americas, the biggest contributor to revenues, grew 5.2 percent, while the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) segment rose 7.1 percent from last year.
Looking forward to the first quarter, Steelcase expects earnings of $0.09 to $0.13 per share, including restructuring costs of about $0.02 per share. The company expects first-quarter revenues of $680 million to $705 million and projects organic revenue growth of 0 to 4 percent.
Analysts currently expect earnings of $0.18 per share on revenues of $711.45 million for the quarter.
The company also declared a dividend of $0.10 per share, an increase of $0.01 per share, and will be paid on or before April 15, 2013 to shareholders of record as of April 8.
SCS closed Wednesday's trading at $14.98, down $0.10 or 0.66%, on a volume of 1.2 million shares on the NYSE. The stock further lost $0.50 or 3.34% in after hours.
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