Danbury home furnishings manufacturer-retailer Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. reported a preliminary loss of between $17 million and $18 million for the third quarter as sales dropped amid the recession.
Ethan Allen’s board also halved the company’s quarterly cash dividend to 5 cents per share to preserve cash. The new dividend is payable July 24 to shareholders of record as of July 10.
The company, which is due to announce its full results on April 30, said the results amounted to a loss per share of between 59 cents and 63 cents. Excluding restructuring and impairment charges, Ethan Allen said it lost $12.5 million to $13.5 million, or between 43 cents and 47 cents a share, in the three-month period ending in March.
The company said it also took other charges in the quarter amounting to about 26 cents a share. It added it is in the final stages of evaluating potential impairment of goodwill and long-lived assets, although the impact from that was not included in these results.
Sales in the period fell nearly 41 percent, while the company reduced inventories by $13.5 million.
Analysts predict the company will earn 4 cents a share in the period on revenue of $170.1 million, according to Thomson Reuters. They typically exclude one-time items from their estimates. Ethan Allen did not specify its revenue in the quarter, but in the same period last year the company earned $8.8 million, or 30 cents a share, on revenue of $235.9 million.
Ethan Allen said in a statement its March business improved from the previous month but was much lower than in the same period last year. (AP)
