Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 22, 1990 TAG: 9007200610
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The New River Valley company had revenues of $133.4 million for the 12-month period ended April 15. The revenues represented a 9 percent increase over the previous fiscal year.
Pulaski, which also owns Craftique and Ridgeway Clocks, has enjoyed steady growth in recent years, and its president, B.C. "Bunny" Wampler, said he expects growth to continue despite the current cautious retail buying climate.
Pulaski's sales got a boost in the past few days, he said, since the Spiegel fall/winter catalog was mailed. Seven of the company's pieces are featured in the catalog. One piece, a Louis XV chair upholstered in leopard-print fabric, also was used in a national ad promoting the catalog. The chair is from Pulaski's Accentrics collection of interior decorator pieces made in the Christiansburg plant.
Despite his excitement over the Spiegel display, Wampler said retail sales have been slower than usual during the summer and all manufacturers are affected. To avoid building too much of an inventory, Pulaski plants cut back to 32-hour work weeks in the spring.
Wampler said all the plants except one in Dublin have returned to full schedule. The Dublin plant makes larger casegoods.
Wampler, who was at the Atlanta Home Furnishings Market last week, said sales are "slower than I would have anticipated 60 to 90 days ago. We've lost a lot of consumer confidence."
He anticipates improvement by September because of an expected drop in interest rates and because sales normally increase in the fall.
Wampler said Pulaski's ranking on Furniture/Today's top-25 manufacturers' list is the highest the company has achieved.
The Furniture/Today rankings, published in the July 9 issue, included three other Western Virginia companies and two manufacturers that are part of conglomerates headquartered elsewhere.
Among the top 25 are Bassett Furniture Industries and Stanley Interiors, both based in Henry County, and Singer Furniture of Roanoke.
Bassett, which owns eight furniture companies, ranked fifth with $456.7 million in revenues, 0.9 percent below the previous 12 months.
Stanley Interiors, which owns Stanley Furniture in Stanleytown and Norman's of Salisbury in North Carolina, was 14th with revenues of $161.8 million, down 7.8 percent.
Singer's revenues of $125 million represented a 6 percent drop.
On the list of furniture makers owned by conglomerates were Lane, owned by Interco, and American of Martinsville, owned by LADD of High Point, N.C.
Lane, which includes nine companies, is headquartered in Altavista with a major plant in Rocky Mount. Interco, headquartered in St. Louis, also owns Broyhill Galleries and Highland House. It sold its Ethan Allen furniture retail unit last June.
Sales figures for the individual companies in conglomerates are not available, but a spokesman for LADD said American of Martinsville casegoods is one of LADD's largest companies and American's contract sales division is one of LADD's best performers. American is the nation's largest manufacturer of hotel-motel furniture.
Although LADD's revenues of $498.6 million were up 31 percent, part of that was due to acquisitions during the year, said John Ong, director of corporate communications for the company based in High Point, N.C. LADD owns 11 companies.
"Our existing business has been flat or down a little," Ong said.
Furniture/Today's list of 25 companies was headed by Masco of Taylor, Mich., with its 21 companies and annual revenues of $1,415 million.
Companies on the list represented revenues of at least $98 million and as a group were responsible for 47 percent of the furniture shipped in the country.
Furniture/Today also mentioned several companies that came close to hitting the $100 million mark, including Rowe Furniture, which has a plant in Salem.
by CNB