Hooker Furnishings Corporation

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to the Hooker Furniture Corporation second quarter 2021 earnings webcast conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star then one on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference may be recorded. If you require any further assistance, please press star then zero. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Mr. Paul Huckbelt, Chief Financial Officer. Thank you. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Jimmy. Good morning and welcome to our quarterly conference call to review the financial results for our fiscal 2021 second quarter, which began on May 4, 2020 and ended on August 2. We certainly appreciate your participation today. Paul Toms, our Chairman and CEO, Jeremy Hoff, President of our Hooker Legacy Brands, and Lee Boone, Co-President of our Home Meridian Division, are joining me today for prepared remarks. For the question and answer portion of the call, our other executive officers will be available to take questions, including Ann Smith, our Chief Administrative Officer, and Doug Townsend, Co-President of Home Oregon. During our call, we may make forward-looking statements which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Discussion of factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from management's expectations is contained in our press release and SEC filing announcing our fiscal second quarter results. Any forward looking statement speaks only as of today and we undertake no obligation to update, revise, or rise any forward looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after today's call. This morning we recorded consolidated net sales of $130.5 million and net income of $5.8 million or 48 cents per diluted share for our fiscal 2021 second quarter, which ended on August 2nd, 2020. Compared to last year's second quarter, our net sales decreased 21.7 million, or 14%, while net income increased 1.6 million, or 39%. Earnings per diluted share increased 37% from 35 cents a year. For the fiscal 21 first half, consolidated net sales were 235 million, down 52 million, or 18%, compared to last year's first half. For the first half, we reported a loss of $29 million or $2.46 per diluted share compared to 52 cents earnings per diluted share in the prior year first half. The year-to-date loss was driven by a $34 million or $44 million pre-tax non-cash intangible asset impairment charge we reported in Q1 as a result of the material impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our financial performance, market valuation, and other factors in our 2021 first quarter, which triggered the need to perform an intangible asset valuation analysis as of the end of the quarter. As a result of that analysis, we wrote down goodwill in certain trade names in the Home Meridian segment and goodwill in the Shenandoah Furniture Division of the Hooker Domestic Upholstery segment. Now Paul Palms will comment on our fiscal 2021 second quarter results.

Thank you, Paul, and good morning, everyone. While the COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact the economy and our operations, our business began to rebound in mid-May and hasn't let up since. Consolidated fiscal Q2 incoming orders were up 24%, and backlogs were up 35% compared to a year ago. Based on this unusually robust order rate for the summer months, during the pandemic-related economic downturn and safer-at-home practices due to pent-up demand, a robust housing market, and less competition from other discretionary spending, such as travel, dining out, and sporting events. Some of our divisions were able to capitalize on the surge in demand sooner than others. We were able to better capitalize on the exceptional demand including hooker-branded case goods and import upholstery, and some home meridian divisions, such as Eccentrics Home, focused on e-commerce. The positive impact of higher demand was not felt as immediately in the domestic upholstery segment and in the HMI units that service customers via container direct orders. After our upholstery factory shut down for four weeks in the spring, percent of capacity by the end of the quarter. Sales will also lag demand in our container direct businesses at Home Meridian. Container direct orders canceled by large customers early in the pandemic in March and April were reinstated during the summer months and will have a more positive impact on revenue in the second half of our fiscal year as production begins to flow through the pipeline. We're gratified performance this quarter during challenging conditions. Consolidated operating income increased by $1.7 million, or 30%, as compared to the prior year or second quarter. The Home Meridian segment reported operating income of $1.1 million compared to a small operating loss in the prior year or second quarter. The Hooker Branded segment's operating margin performance quarter, despite decreased net sales and the inefficiencies from operating at significantly reduced volumes early in the COVID-19 crisis. The measures we took to reduce spending in response to the economic shutdown had a significant positive impact on profitability in the quarter, as did lower costs of goods sold, as we have steadily shifted offshore production to non-tariff countries since last year. Year-to-date, approximately 22% of our case goods and imported upholstery products have been subject to the 25% tariff on finished goods imported from China, a significant reduction compared to 35% of the imported goods subject to tariffs during the same period a year ago. Some of our cost cutting was temporary, such as furloughs and reductions in executive salaries and director fees, which have now been reinstated. Other cuts will stay in place until higher volume warrants increased spending. The flexibility of our variable cost model has once again proven successful during this crisis by our ability to scale our business correctly to demand. During this unusual period when we're unable to travel and conduct and sustainability of our business. We did this through long-range strategic planning, identifying opportunities to coordinate more internal activities, launching numerous growth initiatives, and focusing our efforts and resources on the products, customers, and vendors driving our business. As part of our focus on the long-range future of Hooker Furniture, this June we announced that the Board of Directors I will remain as chairman of the board. Jeremy joined Hooker Furniture three years ago and currently serves as president of Hooker Legacy Brands. He will become the fourth chief executive officer of the company in our 96-year history. In the time Jeremy has been at Hooker, he's proven a strategic and operationally focused executive who can balance growing sales with being profitable. Importantly, I know he values the culture that has driven so much of our success over the years. I'm confident Jeremy and the entire leadership team will take Hooker Furniture and all of its operating divisions to the next level. And with that, I'll ask Jeremy to comment on results for our Hooker legacy brands for the quarter. Thank you, Paul. In the Hooker percent higher than the comparable period a year ago. Net sales for the segment were essentially flat compared to a year ago, dipping by 585,000 or 1.5 percent in the fiscal 2021 second quarter. Many of the traditional furniture stores that closed during the economic shutdown reopened during the fiscal 2021 second quarter, leading to increased demand from interest high in new products that stay top of mind with customers. We have done this through digital marketing with upscale photography and 360 degree videos in a full showroom on our website showcasing four new collections. We also participated in a three-day mini market held in high point showrooms during June. We were gratified to receive solid orders on the new collections and expect to begin shipping them to retail stores by October. The dynamics of the interrupted product introduction cycle along with pent-up retailer and consumer demand for new furniture styles has significantly increased the importance of the upcoming mid-September we intend to introduce a major home office program at premarket in response to the surge in demand for multifunctional furniture that facilitates more home-based work as the ranks of those working remotely from home has risen during the pandemic. In addition, Hooker Case Goods will display the four new collections we first introduced virtually at the upcoming premarket. In our domestic upholstery Incoming orders decreased by 5.9% as compared to the prior year period. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as reduced orders in March and April, Bradenton Young's and Shenandoah's manufacturing plants were temporarily closed in April, and Sam Moore operated at reduced capacity. segment this quarter.

Thank you, Jeremy. Homeridian's second quarter sales were $71 million, down 18% from prior year. Operating profit improved to $1.1 million from the break-even Q2 prior year in spite of the reduced sales volume. Second quarter profitability was partially the result of cost cuts and spending reductions that were implemented in Q1 to combat the effects of the pandemic. Significant progress has been made in several areas that previously impacted our bottom line. Most notably, a significant reduction of China tariff expense, excess warehousing, and freight charges combined to favorably impact the bottom line. Furthermore, margins improved in the second quarter. The Q2 sales decline was primarily the result of disruptions from COVID-19. both on our traditional customers' slow store reopenings, as well as on our factories, many of which struggled to rebuild production capacity to pre-COVID levels. Fortunately, Home Meridian was in a strong inventory position prior to the pandemic, which enabled us to ship significant quantities from our U.S. warehouses. However, inventories were significantly reduced in Q2, which will impact our near-term warehouse shipments until we can replenish in Q3. We are replenishing our stock levels as fast as possible, but the surge in demand continues to outpace supply. At this point, given the current unusually high retail demand, we anticipate struggling to rebuild inventories to prior year levels until Q1 of next year. Consequently, we have aggressively placed new production orders with our factories to ship as quickly as possible, which we expect to improve our service levels mid-Q3 and throughout Q4. SLF, our largest business unit by sales volume, delivered strong profitability in the second quarter, despite a 30% decline in net shipments versus prior year. SLF Q2 profits, which exceeded prior year, are the result of improved margins and significant spending reductions. ACH, our e-commerce focused business unit, also delivered good results driven by exceptionally strong e-commerce sales in the second quarter. This online demand, largely driven by the pandemic shutdowns and the work-from-home trend, is expected to continue to remain strong for the duration of the current national health crisis. It should also be noted that our e-commerce demand did slow toward the end of Q2 as we began to run out of our best-selling inventory. PRI, our upholstery division, has demonstrated significant performance improvement in fiscal 2021. This turnaround is particularly noteworthy given the struggles in this business unit from last year from the China tariffs and associated supply disruptions. This year's improved results are largely the result of stabilized production supply, strong retail demand from a couple of mega retailers, and improved margin management from the new PRI leadership team. While these results are extremely encouraging, PRI faces the same challenges for production, inventory, and service levels, and we expect May temper results in Q3 before we begin to catch up product availability to demand. SLH, our hospitality business unit, reported a small profit in the second quarter, despite the major negative impact of coronavirus on the hotel and motel sector. This profit was the result of projects already underway when the pandemic hit, along with good cost management within the company. We expect our hospitality sales to struggle for the next few quarters until travel conditions return closer to normal. HM Idea, our clubs and mass focus division, reported a loss for Q2, the result of a sales decline combined with customer allowances above plan. We do see a path to long-term profitability for HM Idea once business conditions return to normal. Finally, Pulaski Furniture, our step-up case goods unit, reported an operating profit in Q2 despite sales being down 32% versus prior year. As mentioned before, the sales decrease was the result of order cancellations from large customers in early Q2 and the disruptions of the pandemic on factory output over the last five months. The PFC profit, although small, was hard-earned through relentless margin and cost management from the PFC team. Home Meridian incoming orders were extremely strong in Q2 and exceeded orders in the same period last year by 37%. These orders were driven by strong e-commerce demand as well as surprisingly strong demand from our brick-and-mortar retailers as they reopened their stores following four to six weeks of pandemic shutdowns. Home Meridian order backlog continued to build in Q2, the result of continuing strong incoming demand from our customers and many of whom are placing orders for shipment well into the future. We finished Q2 with a $122 million backlog, up 32% over prior year. Looking forward, our order backlog continues to build, and we are working diligently with our partner factories to maximize production and shipments to satisfy the unprecedented demand. HMI current backlog exceeded $150 million last week, which was a new record for the company. This is the result of a $28 million backlog increase in August alone. As Jeremy mentioned earlier, our expectations are that retail attendance at next week's High Point premarket will be up four to five-fold. HMI is booking advance appointments for premarket, and initial indications are for an exceptionally well-attended premarket event. Our sales teams, samples, and showrooms are ready. At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Paul Huckfelt, who will elaborate further on quarterly results.

Thanks, Lee. Our cash balance was $82 million at the end of the quarter, an increase of $46 million from the fiscal 2020 year end. So far this year, we've generated $53 million in cash from operating activities, much of it from the reduction of inventory levels and the collection of accounts receivables. As noted above, we plan to utilize some of this cash to increase inventories to meet the brisk demand we've experienced since mid-May. We're revisiting sales forecasts weekly and adjusting production orders based on incoming demand. Our hooker-branded business is in a somewhat better position because we didn't cancel or postpone orders with our Asian vendors at the onset of the pandemic, while the HMI direct business will take a little longer to get back to normal production flow. Both businesses are reacting to the strong demand we've experienced since the initial pandemic shutdown by focusing on getting best-selling products back in stock, which we expect to do within the next 60 days. But given current lead times with Asian partners, we have and may continue to experience some out-of-stocks with respect to certain imported products. Average selling prices were down 1.4% in the Hooker branded segment and up 1% in the Home Meridian segment for the quarter. On a consolidated basis, average selling prices increased 1.3%, mostly due to a favorable change in mix by division, as the unit volume in the higher-priced hooker-branded segment stayed essentially flat, but was down 14% in the home meridian segment. The average selling price decrease in the hooker-branded segment was driven by higher discounting on e-commerce and discontinued product sales. The increased average selling price in the homeridian segment was attributable to product mix. The domestic upholstery segment average selling price decreased by 6.1% due to a smaller mix of the higher-priced Braddington Young product. Unit volumes were down 17.9% in the domestic upholstery segment, resulting from lower order volumes and operating below full capacity during the quarter. Consolidated gross profit increased $1.8 million to $27 million in the second quarter, but increased from 18.9% to 20.7% as a percentage of net sales. Most of the decrease in dollars was in the domestic upholstery segment due primarily to the sales decline and unabsorbed fixed costs resulting from operating at the lower production level. Hooker-branded gross profit increased both in absolute terms and as a percentage of net sales, attributable to favorable case goods product costs, and to a lesser extent, reduced warehousing and distribution expenses during the pandemic, partially offset by increased product costs at Hooker Upholstery due to a higher mix of product sourced from China, which carries tariffs imposed over the last two years as we continue to move from China to Vietnam. In the Home Meridian segment, Despite an 18% net sales decline, gross profit decreased slightly in absolute terms and increased 220 basis points as a percentage of net sales. We believe the sourcing transition from China to non-tariff countries has been successful in restoring gross margins to normal levels. And several issues which negatively impacted Home Meridian's gross margin in the prior year, including higher freight, warehousing, and handling costs on excess inventory, didn't recur in fiscal 2021 second quarter. These improvements were partially offset by some lower-margin sales programs. In all other, net sales stayed essentially flat for the quarter. Gross profit decreased slightly in absolute terms and as a percentage of net sales due to an unfavorable product mix. Although a smaller part of our consolidated results, all other reported an operating income due to the continued solid performance of our H contract divisions. Consolidated selling and administrative expenses decreased in absolute terms and as a percent of net sales in the quarter. The decreases were mostly due to lower selling expenses on lower volume and cost reduction efforts we made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The decreases were partially offset by higher professional service expenses and, to a lesser extent, increased bad debt expense including the recognition of current expected credit losses under the newly adopted accounting standard ASC 326. For these reasons, operating income for the fiscal 2021 second quarter increased $1.7 million to $7.5 million compared to $5.8 million in the prior year quarter. Operating margin improved from 3.8% to 5.8%. And on our balance sheet, in addition to the $82 million cash balance, we had access to almost $26 million on our revolving credit facility and $25 million of cash surrender value of company-owned life insurance, which gives us additional financial flexibility. We're confident that our strong financial condition can weather the expected short-term impacts of COVID-19. However, an extended impact could continue to materially adversely affect our sales, earnings, and liquidity. Now I'll turn this over back to Paul Toms for his outlook.

Thanks, Paul. Given the robust housing market, strong demand since mid-May, and backlogs up 35%, we enter the fall with momentum and a great deal of optimism. As I mentioned earlier, we used the shutdown period to identify growth strategies our business. All these initiatives will yield positive long-term results. We are concerned about the human and economic toll of COVID-19, both currently and the future possibility of additional surges of the virus that may delay reopenings and have adverse effects in certain regions or states. However, we have a very strong team and are in excellent financial condition. We weathered the disruption of tariffs last year and the pandemic so far this year. We're well prepared to face an uncertain future and well positioned to benefit from furniture's emergence as an advantage category. This ends the formal part of our

Thank you. As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star, then 1 on your touchtone telephone. To withdraw your question from the queue, please press the pound key. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from Anthony Levizinski with Sudeti & Company. Your line is now open.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. So, obviously, it's encouraging to see the backlog up 35%. for the quarter. So how should we think about, you know, the timing of when you will be able to book that as revenue? I know you talked about some supply chain constraints and with demand outpacing supply. So just wanted to get a better handle as to how should we think about translating that backlog into revenue?

Okay, Anthony, this is Paul Toms. Thanks for joining us and thanks for your question. It really varies across our different businesses, but probably the most immediate impact we're going to see is on the Hooker branded side. In transit inventories are up probably double what they normally are, and Hooker ships much more out of the warehouses. are in the warehouses in Virginia. So I think the impact on the hooker-branded side will be over the next couple of months, we should be able to get back in stock. A lot of what we receive will immediately go back out. I'm not sure we'll build inventories a lot, but we'll receive the products we need to fulfill the demand that's in-house. On Meridian, maybe a little further out, maybe 30 to 60 days, although they're starting to receive some of their best sellers for the ECOM channel into West Coast facilities this month. And then the Container Direct, which is a huge part of Home Meridian's record backlog, that will ship some in Q3, probably more in Q4, and some of that backlog is actually targeted We're seeing large customers lay orders in for further out than they typically would. Maybe normal ordering would be four months, and today it may be five, six, seven months because of the backlogs that the factories in Asia have. You know, probably one of the areas I'm most optimistic about, too, is our domestic upholstery. that they produced in Q1 and Q2, and it's not anywhere close to what their capacity is. You know, we were impacted pretty equally. The way our quarters fall, where you had April fall into the first quarter and May fall into the second quarter, those were the two months where we were the most impacted with production shutdowns. And so I think we enter the third quarter producing at what we say 90% of capacity and Barring, you know, absenteeism around COVID, I think we're in excellent position, great backlogs in all three of the domestic upholstery divisions, record backlog, and I don't know if they're records, but they're huge backlogs, way bigger than last year, and it should allow us to run very full schedules for the entire third quarter.

Got it. Yeah, thank you for that, Collin. I definitely appreciate that. So, The gross margin was up nicely in the quarter. How sustainable do you think that expansion is? I know you talked about moving production out of China into other countries, but just wanted to get a better understanding as to how we should think about the gross margins going forward.

I think they're pretty sustainable. This is all progress that we've made on moving out of China, moving to non-tariff countries. There's still some still some friction in some places. You know, the capacity's got to catch up. But I believe over the long term that they should be sustainable.

Got it.

Okay. We're focused on margin management, too. So, you know, we're evaluating these programs and making sure that, you know, we've got the product price right and we've got the right costs. So I think it's sustainable.

And then domestic upholstery, it should improve as production schedules are more. Right.

Mm-hmm. Got it. Okay. And in terms of, you know, supply chain constraints, are you seeing anything either domestically or outside the U.S. in terms of ability to get the raw materials, anything that you want to call out as far as any cost headwinds or maybe tailwinds?

You know, probably the only thing I would call out would be anytime you have an industry that at large, doing well. Labor is probably a challenge in Vietnam right now, although we're hearing from some vendors it is, and other vendors are saying it's not, that they're able to attract the labor they need. I guess there are sectors of the economy that haven't done as well, and maybe some of those are not seeing the huge surge in demand that furniture is. Freight has also been a challenge, both getting the containers that we need to move product out of Asia and availability on the vessels. But I believe everything I've read is that the steamship lines will be bringing more vessels online as they see a sustained need for it. And everything I'm looking at is that maybe the pricing of containers have already peaked, that they expect it to be a little bit less going forward.

got it thanks for that and then can you remind us as far as where you are in terms of your sales penetration to e-commerce retailers I could give you a guess but I'm not sure that I know that exact number it's probably less

A lot of bricks-and-mortar retailers closed. It basically reopened starting in mid-May. So for at least two-thirds of the quarter, you'd have traditional stores of bricks-and-mortar reopen, and their business has been stellar also. So I would say e-coms probably come down a little bit this quarter as a percent of sales.

Got it. Okay. And then two more questions for me. So I think, Jeremy, you talked about the home office category. You're expanding more into that. Can you give us a sense as to where you are now in terms of your penetration of home office products and how should we think about that going forward?

Anthony, I would say that be able to capture more market share, which is what we're trying to do. So I think for our business as a category, it is impactful.

Got it. Okay. And lastly, how should we think about your capital allocation priorities? I know we talked about building up some inventory, but you guys have a very healthy balance sheet. So what are you looking at as far as? cash flow usage and maybe comment on any potential acquisitions?

Well, of course, yeah, our first priority is to support the business that we have. So building inventory and supporting, you know, the busy fall selling season will be our primary objective. Beyond that, I think we've said pretty consistently that growth by acquisition would be a priority. I don't think we can comment. There's nothing we can comment on as far as specific acquisitions. But I think that that's certainly something that we had in mind and could look for in the future. I think those are the two primary. That plus just keeping a solid, stable balance sheet. I think that served us really well through the long history of the company and most recently through the last recession and through this pandemic. I think having a solid balance sheet has been one of our really great strengths. So I think that that's always going to be a priority is maintaining a solid balance sheet. But beyond that, I think, you know, Smart acquisition is probably the next best thing.

Got it. Okay, and just one quick follow-up to that. And as far as the dividend, I mean, would you look to increase that over time as well?

Our history has been to, first of all, maintain the dividend. I think we've done that for 50 years. And then, secondly, to grow it annually. And we went through a spell during the 2008-2009 recession where We weren't able to grow it, but we did maintain it. And then we've grown it pretty consistently for the last seven or eight years and certainly intend to do that going forward.

Got it. That's all for me. Thank you very much and best of luck. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Sandy Mehta with Evaluate Research. Your line is now open.

Thank you. Congratulations on a very strong quarter. Can you comment specifically on importing from Vietnam versus China specifically in terms of the profitability? Are the gross margins about the same or maybe a little bit lessened when you're importing from Vietnam?

No, the gross margins are better because And then some of the other products, some of the products we import out of China have additional duties, like bedroom has a duty of about 7% from one of our major vendors. In the hospitality business, there are some other duties on quartz tops, I think, and some cabinets. So the margins, the first cost may be a little bit higher out of Vietnam on some products, but the margins are significantly better.

If it wasn't for the tariff, would the profitability, if you set aside the tariff, would the profitability from Vietnam versus China be about the same then?

It would be similar, sure.

Okay. And one final question from me. Your company earned $3.38 in EPS in fiscal year 2019. And I understand some of that may have been pre-orders because of the whole tariff issue from China from the following year. But even adjusted for that, do you see your company having an earnings potential of $3 per share in the future, especially in light of the strong housing market as well? Thank you.

Thank you. Well, obviously, you know, we were affected first by the imposition of the 25% tariff and the need to react to that, which involved, you know, in many cases having to absorb a lot of that tariff, plus just all the disruption caused by that. And then, you know, following, well, a 10% tariff and then a 25% tariff, and then this pandemic has really disrupted the industry. So, you know, it's going to take, we've got a couple of years of underperformance. But I would expect that our basic business is good, the housing is good, and I think that we'll return to that. It's not going to be this year. I'd say it's going to take a couple of years to get back to that. But, yes, I believe we have the potential. The business is there and back to growing.

Absolutely. This is Paul Toms. I absolutely agree with what Paul Huckfeld just said. than we were when we earned $3.38. So we've got to regrow our business. We went well along in sourcing products out of China into other countries that don't have tariffs. A lot of it's in Vietnam, but some's in Malaysia and other countries. We have to complete that transition. But yes, the potential absolutely is there. It could take us a few years. We definitely believe that we can continue to, in the long term, grow the company and increase earnings.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question comes from J.P. Dagan with Global Value Investment. Your line is now open.

Good morning, and thank you for your time. You discussed the period of time that you expect to pass before you've built inventory to a more normalized level. But I'm hoping that you might quantify what a more normalized level of inventory looks like. And then considering that inventory might be somewhat constrained for the next three to six months, will you expect any added pricing power that might be accretive to gross margins beyond what you're already focusing on and defending your margins?

Pricing power from us to our customers or from our vendors to us?

From you to your customers.

Certainly in this environment, you have more pricing power. I think the backlog we have is at current prices, so we can't change that. We don't really have any plans or see a need presently to increase pricing to our customers. Your other part of your question was on the level of inventories, and I think if you were to look at inventories at the end of last year, we probably were slightly over-inventoried at Home Meridian and under-inventoried at Hooker Branded, but I think in total, those inventory levels are probably pretty reasonable, and especially with growth take us a while because as we said in the call the inventory we receive in the next three to six months are going to turn around and ship pretty quickly i think the first thing we'll do is fulfill the demand and the backlog that we already have and then be able to build inventory so i really look at the inventory build probably happening q4 and in the next year in total i'm going to have to

Pricing power might be in the case of, I think we're selling fewer closeouts. We're selling down our inventory. We're cleaning up our inventory. So in that way, it's not exactly, you know, it's not leverage, but I think that margins should maintain going forward because we're selling through some of our, we're cleaning up the inventories and getting rid of our C and D inventories.

And also discounting less to move inventory, promoting less because in this environment, we really don't need to The challenge is having enough inventory, so it makes no sense to discount things in this environment.

Okay, that's helpful. Paul Toms, in your prepared remarks, you mentioned growth initiatives, and you've been very clear on your intention to continue to grow through acquisition initiatives. but is there anything else in terms of organic growth or other sort of growth initiatives that you can elaborate on or that investors should be aware of?

There are numerous growth initiatives across many of our brands. For a branded segment, there's a new online initiative targeted at mid-price casual dining, seating, barstools, chairs. There's a Another launch, I think, intended for October market. Jeremy might be able to comment on that. We are close to announcing a major license collection with Home Meridian that I think will be a huge growth to our business. And then individual brands have just product line extensions that they're looking at doing. All of that's in addition to road through acquisition. Jeremy, any additional comments on Well, one extension that I think you were referring to actually is April due to COVID-19, but it actually targets millennials as well as Gen X. It's a different type of product category, more lifestyle product, different price point. We're actually branding it under a commerce market brand. That's just an example. and how we actually attract a different audience without necessarily changing the direction of what we think we're good at currently. Doug or Lee, anything to add from Home Meridian beyond what I've already said?

This is Lee Boone at Home Meridian. I would add that over the last several months, Home Meridian has experienced very encouraging results with new mass customers. that we were either not selling or selling at a minimal level in the past. They've been advantaged through the COVID pandemic shutdowns, and it's given us the opportunity to build relationships and new merchandising programs with mass customers that we would not have had otherwise. So that's going to definitely add sales to our future business.

We might also talk about HM Idea and the new type of products that we're launching there.

Sure. Doug, you want that one?

Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is Doug Townsend. Last year, we launched a new division called HM Idea. It's a brand new product category, ready to assemble furniture with easy assembly abilities. So instead of taking two or three hours to, you know, put 100 screws into a desk or a chest, you know, you can put it together in, you know, anywhere from five minutes to 30 minutes, depending on the fastening system. So We spent all last year developing those products. Those products just started to hit the market in the last couple months. They're mostly e-commerce focused right now. But we have high hopes for that division to be a big part of fueling our growth for the next couple years.

Great. All very helpful. Thank you very much.

Thank you. And our next question comes from John Dycher with Pinnacle. Your line is now open.

Hi. Good morning and a solid quarter. I was just curious, you mentioned bad debt in the prepared remarks. What was the bad debt for the first half of the current year versus last year?

Well, the biggest part of the bad debt adjustment is the adoption of the new accounting standard. We experienced it. One bad debt typically that was out of line with our typical experience, but most of the rest of the adjustment was related to the new accounting standard, which requires us to look forward. That was probably $400,000 in the first half.

Sorry, excluding the accounting adjustment, what was the bad debt?

I don't have that information handy.

Well, broadly speaking, what's the health of the underlying customer base at this point? You know, retail is having its issues, but I'm just curious as to what your underlying customer strength is.

My guess, this is Paul Toms, is our customer strength is actually better, way better than we bottled back in March and April. And furniture has come out of the pandemic a very advantaged category because of people being sheltering at home and realizing they need new dining furniture or new workspaces and less things competing for discretionary spending, as we mentioned, with travel being way down, dining out being down, we sell a lot of different channels, are doing better than they have a year or two ago and are advantaged and in pretty good condition. You can find exceptions, obviously. Look at retailers that have closed or gone through bankruptcy. But I think

Yeah, I'd say our experience to this point hasn't been different than a typical year. The one bankruptcy that I referenced was not related to COVID. I don't think that the pandemic has created any additional bad debt exposure, but we'll have to wait and see, but I think we're pretty comfortable. We insure some of our larger accounts, and almost all of those have had, after suspension of credit insurance during the initial Pandemic shutdowns, most of that's been reinstated. I think the insurance and investment community is pretty positive about our customers as well.

Okay, good to hear. And finally, what was the exact backlog at the end of the quarter? I heard bits and pieces, but what was the total backlog company-wide?

God, dear. in total at the end of Q2.

The total backlog was 169. 160. Okay, and that was up 35% from a year ago?

Yes.

Okay, good. Thanks. Good luck.

Thank you.

Thank you, and I'm showing no further questions in the queue at this time. I'd like to turn the call back to Paul Toms for any closing remarks.

No additional remarks to make. We appreciate everybody joining us today. We're encouraged by the quarter that we just reported, but we're certainly very optimistic going forward and believe that the coming quarters are going to be very good for the company. Thank you for joining us today.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation on today's conference. This does conclude your program, and you may now disconnect.