Hooker Furnishings Corporation

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Hooker Furnishings Corp first quarter 2027 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you'll need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Earl Armstrong, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Sir, please go ahead.

Thank you, Michelle, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to our quarterly conference call to review financial results for the fiscal 2027 first quarter. Our 2027 first quarter began on February 2nd, 2026, and ended on May 3rd, 2026. Joining me today is Jeremy Hoff, our Chief Executive Officer. We appreciate your participation. During our call, we may make forward-looking statements which are subject to risks and uncertainties. A 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 2027 first quarter results. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of today, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after today's call. Despite continued weakness in the housing market, soft retail demand for furniture and home furnishings, and persistent macroeconomic challenges, we delivered net income of $1.1 million for the quarter, reflecting the benefits of our cost reduction initiatives, improved gross margin performance, and ongoing progress toward a leaner, higher margin operating model. Consolidated net sales decreased 1.7 million, or 2.4%, compared to the prior year period. The decrease was primarily driven by lower sales in the hooker branded and domestic upholstery segments, partially offset by higher shipments in the all other components hospitality business. Despite the sales decrease, profitability improved significantly. The consolidated gross profit increased by $2.7 million, while gross margin improved 440 basis points compared to the prior year period. This improvement was primarily driven by stronger profitability in Hooker Branden. For the quarter, the company generated operating income of $1.6 million compared to an operating loss of $498,000 in the prior year period, representing a $2.1 million improvement. Consolidated net income was $1.1 million or $0.10 per diluted share. These results reflect the benefit of improved gross margin, prior cost reduction initiatives, and our continued focus on building a more efficient and profitable business model. Now I'll turn the call over to Jeremy for his comments on our fiscal 2027 first quarter results.

Thank you, Earl, and good morning, everyone. We are encouraged to report $1.1 million in consolidated net income for the quarter, marking a $4.1 million improvement over the prior year first quarter. These results were achieved despite a challenging demand environment characterized by depressed housing activity and low consumer confidence. The improvement reflects the benefit of the $17.5 million reduction in fixed costs related to continuing operations that we achieved in the prior year, as well as continued progress toward a more efficient operating model. From a segment perspective, Hooker Branded performed exceptionally well despite lower sales compared to the prior year, supported by stronger gross margin performance. Domestic upholstery's results continue to be impacted by lower sales volume, but were supported by operational efficiencies implemented late last year. Looking forward, Retailer commitments to Margaritaville products, galleries, and freestanding stores continue to exceed our expectations with meaningful shipments expected to begin in the second half of fiscal 27. We are also encouraged by the positive retailer response and commitments to products debuted at the April 26 High Point Market. During market, we introduced Hooker Custom Upholstery, bringing together the Sam Moore and Bradenton Young brands under a unified platform. This updated market approach combines these upscale product lines under a unified premium hooker custom upholstery identity supported by a refreshed showroom presentation, enhanced marketing efforts, and a mix of new introductions and established products. The initiative is further supported by the capabilities of our new website launched in February 26. Once market conditions improve, We believe this strategy will ultimately drive higher sales by creating a more cohesive brand narrative and presenting all offerings under the Hooker name, which carries the strongest brand recognition across our portfolio. Now I want to turn the discussion back over to Earl, who will discuss highlights in each of our segments, along with our cash, debt, inventory, and capital allocation strategy.

Thank you, Jeremy. Starting with Hooker Branded, net sales decreased 1.8 million or 4.8% in the first quarter of fiscal 27. 70% of that decrease was primarily due to lower volume in the imported upholstery part of that business. These headwinds were partially offset by higher average selling prices from price increases implemented to mitigate higher product costs. Despite the decrease in sales, Hooker Branded gross profit increased 2.9 million and gross margin increased improved 960 basis points, the segment contributed $1.2 million of the operating income to the company's consolidated operating income of $1.6 million for the quarter. Backlog increased nearly 30% compared to the prior year first quarter, reflecting retailer commitments to new products, including Margaritaville, with meaningful shipments expected to begin in the second half of the current fiscal year. Turning to domestic upholstery, net sales decreased 558,000 or 1.9% in the first quarter of fiscal 27, primarily due to the continued soft demand environment. Gross profit decreased 315,000 and gross margin decreased 80 basis points, driven primarily by lower revenue and higher overhead. The segment recorded an operating loss of 689,000, primarily driven by its indoor residential furnishings businesses. Domestic upholstery backlog increased modestly compared to both the prior year first quarter and fiscal 2026 year end. In all other, performance was driven largely by increased sales and operating income in the hospitality division. Improved operating income reflected higher sales as well as lower costs resulting from cost-cutting measures implemented in the previous fiscal year. Turning now to cash, debt, and inventory. Cash and cash equivalents stood at $10.6 million at quarter end, an increase of $9.5 million from the prior year fiscal end, and the company had no debt. Cash generated from operations was used to repay $3.6 million in the principal amount of our outstanding loans, distribute $1.3 million in cash dividends, and fund $403,000 in capital expenditures. Inventory levels decreased by 3.7 million from 48.7 million at fiscal 2026 year end to 45 million at the end of the first quarter. Despite these outflows, the company maintained its financial flexibility with 54.2 million in available borrowing capacity under its amended and restated loan agreement as of quarter end, net of standby letters of credit, and no outstanding balance on the credit facility. As of yesterday, The company had over $15 million in cash on hand. Finally, I'll discuss our capital allocation strategy. In late fiscal 26, we announced that our board authorized a new share repurchase program under which we intend to repurchase up to $5 million of our outstanding common shares beginning in fiscal 2027. In connection with the repurchase authorization, the board recalibrated the annual dividend to 46 cents per share, beginning with the company's December 31st, 2025 dividend payment. The share repurchase program began on April 21st, 2026, pursuant to a plan structured to comply with the safe harbors of Rules 10b-5-1 and 10b-18, which included a customary 90-day waiting period before the first purchases were made. During the quarter, we purchased about 7,600 shares of our stock for approximately $96,000 at an average price of $12.53 per share. As we position the company for sustainable growth, the new share repurchase program and adjusted dividend provide a balanced framework for returning capital to shareholders while preserving flexibility to invest in strategic priorities. We believe this approach supports both near-term returns and long-term shareholder value. Now I'll turn the discussion back to Jeremy for his outlook.

Thank you, Earl. Looking at the early part of the second quarter, consolidated incoming orders increased 8% in May compared to the prior year period, while backlog was up more than 14% year over year. This improvement was primarily driven by Margaritaville orders, which had their initial shipments in May. Retailer commitments to Margaritaville products, galleries, and freestanding stores continue to exceed our expectations. To date, we have commitments for 100 in-store galleries and 10 freestanding retail stores compared with approximately half those numbers when we reported in December. Meaningful shipments are expected to begin in the second half of fiscal 27 and build through the end of the current fiscal year and beyond. While these order and backlog trends are encouraging, the broader demand environment remains challenging. Housing activity remains pressured, and recent consumer confidence readings continue to reflect a very cautious consumer environment. The Department of Commerce's April advance monthly estimates showed retail sales for furniture and home furnishing stores decreased 2% from March and 3.6% from the prior year. Given these macroeconomic pressures, our outlook for fiscal 27 second quarter remains cautious. While we do not expect meaningful near-term improvement in market conditions, our more efficient cost structure and streamlined portfolio should help position us to deliver improved results versus the prior year period, even if current conditions persist. Our advantage is a sharper focus on our core businesses, a more disciplined operating model, and an organization aligned around profitable growth. We believe the actions taken over the past year have positioned the company to generate improved and more consistent earnings as market conditions improve. Combined with continued momentum and incoming orders across our core businesses, we believe we are well positioned to capitalize on opportunities as demand recovers. This ends the formal part of our discussion, and at this time, I will turn the call over to our operator, Michelle, for questions.

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star 1-1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again. One moment for our first question. Our first question is going to come from the line of Anthony Libidzinski with Sedoti. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for taking the questions. Certainly nice to see the improved bottom line results here. So I guess as we look back at the just reported quarter, just wondering if you guys saw any significant monthly variations in revenue as you went from February to April, given all the geopolitical noise that we saw during the quarter, and if Yeah, just wondering, since typically, seasonally speaking, fiscal Q1 tends to be lower in terms of revenue than fiscal Q4. So maybe you could just speak to that as to how the quarter flowed during, again, from February through April.

You know, I would say that, you know, as we get further removed from what we dealt with in the latter part of last year, which was you could probably categorize as turmoil trying to sell the two companies and everything we did to position the company where we are. I think that earlier in the quarter, we're getting our feet underneath us. And as the quarter progressed, we're getting more and more focused. And I would just say that the further, the longer we have, the better I think we get at positioning ourselves to where we're headed, if that makes sense.

Mm-hmm. Okay. Got it. And then could you just speak to pricing versus unit volumes? I know you guys typically put this in your 10Q, but if you could just maybe give us just general framework as to what pricing was versus unit volumes in the quarter.

Anthony, we don't have that in front of us.

Like you said, it'll be in the queue for tomorrow that we file tomorrow afternoon. I'd say definitely, yeah, go ahead.

Okay. Go ahead, Anthony.

Okay, so I know there was some notion of increased pricing during the quarter. So, all right, so we'll wait for the details in the tank queue, that's fine. Okay, and then I guess my next question as far as the gross margin, it was up more than expected, especially at Hooker Branded. Was there anything unusual to speak of, or do you think this type of gross margin is sustainable going forward?

I would say two things. One is, you know, product mix has a lot to do with where gross margin ends up for us, you know, as usual. So depending on certain things that ship and certain things that don't, that can change that dynamic. But number two is, You know, we're on, as you know, we're on LIFO, and, you know, that can significantly change things depending on the timing of how that LIFO plays out. So those are really the two factors.

Gotcha. Okay. And lastly, can you talk about what you've seen or heard from your retail partners about Memorial Day traffic, which – has historically been a big holiday event for the furniture industry. So if you could just maybe speak to what you've heard in regards to your retail partners as far as what they've talked about as far as traffic and any buying activity around the key holiday.

Yeah, I'd say the contacts we made with our customers and partners were great. pretty optimistic about what they experienced over the Memorial Day holiday with sales and whatnot and traffic. They said it was pretty good considering what we're in with everything we talked about. So pretty good is the general sentiment on Memorial weekend.

Well, all right. That sounds great. Well, thank you very much. I'll pass it along.

We appreciate it. Thanks, Anthony.

Thank you. And one moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Dave Storms with StoneGate. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you for taking the questions. Sure. I wanted to start with Margaritaville. You doubled the number of commitments from 50 to 100 in-store galleries and then added the 10 freestanding retail stores. But how should we think about that going forward? As you start to ship meaningfully in the second half here, would we expect to see those in-store commitments numbers to increase? Or do you think it'll level out and it'll be a pivot to volumes and shipments?

Well, I'll answer that just based off of my experience with things that you launch, you know, with that type of magnitude, which I guess I'd have to say I've never been a part of something that we feel like is that big, which I said, I think it's the largest one Hooker has had. But however, you know, when you first launch you get some people that, you know, customers that jump on right away. And then the more, if the program's right and if you execute, you know, you can get more and more participation, more and more galleries. So, I mean, I would, I'm definitely taking a glass half full approach with it. I'm optimistic that we'll keep increasing what we've already done. And that's, of course, the goal.

No, understood. So we'd expect some traction there. And then I guess, and this is kind of going back to the margins question from earlier, I know your backlog is starting to represent some of the Margaritaville ordering. Is there any sense of the texture of the margin profile for that backlog? Should we expect it to be maybe similar or a little bit stronger than maybe this last quarter?

Yeah, I would say the word is consistent. We're not separating that out as a different margin profile publicly, but I would say we're going to be consistent with what we're trying to do from a margin standpoint.

That's very fair. Maybe one more for me. I know you mentioned, or it was mentioned in your release, that there were some supply constraints and shipping delays and custom upholstery. Maybe taking a more macro view on that, are you seeing any sort of supply chain constraints across the industry in terms of maybe freight increases due to, you know, the shutdown in the street over Mews, you know, anything like that that's causing supply chain hiccups?

No, so just first of all, it wasn't custom upholstery that we said was the delay. We said that on import upholstery. Custom upholstery is our domestic upholstery business, so very different. regarding the other part of your question, um, we really haven't had noticeable, um, delays or whatnot from straight over moves or anything going on in the world. Thankfully, um, you know, it's not supply chain from overseas is never perfect, but we feel pretty good about our position right now. And, um, we had the issues really were pretty, um, targeted on that hooker upholstery import upholstery model. Um, had a couple of factors where we had some issues, but that's not across the board.

Understood. Thank you for taking my questions.

Yeah, you're welcome. Thank you.

Thank you. And one moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of John Dasher with Pinnacle. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Hi. Good morning. Most of my questions were answered, but I just was curious, what was the – the backlog and the orders numbers for the first quarter, please.

One second. Let's see. Pardon me. For hooker branded at the end of Q1, You can just give me the total if it's easier.

Consolidated at the end of Q1 was orders were 19.4, backlog was 39 million.

Orders 19.4 and backlog 39 million? Correct. Okay, great. Thank you. And in terms of the tariffs, Can you give us any feel for the rebate number that you're seeking and when that might be received?

John, we've decided not to disclose that publicly, at least on the call. I think that process is still ongoing, and there'll be some additional disclosure in the queue. but the way we're working with it now is we've not recorded anything in first quarter for anticipating any of that. Under U.S. GAAP, it's not realized or realizable at this point. The receipt's not probable, which is why we've not recognized anything. But to date, we've not disclosed that number publicly just because there's so much uncertainty regarding the refunds themselves.

Right. Okay, that makes sense. Do you know if any other industry players have actually received checks? Yeah, we don't have that type of information from others, no. Okay. All right, fair enough. We'll take a look at the queue. Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, and I would now like to hand the conference back over to Jeremy Hoff for closing remarks.

I would like to thank everyone on the call for their interest in hooker furnishings. We look forward to sharing our fiscal 27 second quarter results in September. Take care.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.