US firm Ethan Allen's net sales at $163.9 mn in Q1 FY24

The retail segment saw written orders fall by 13.2 per cent, while the wholesale segment experienced a 15.6 per cent decrease in written orders, the company said in its Q1 FY24 results.

Despite the decline in sales, the consolidated gross margin showed improvement, rising to 61.1 per cent from 60.4 per cent a year ago. The operating margin stood at 11.2 per cent, with an adjusted operating margin of 12.1 per cent, although this is lower than the 17.6 per cent observed last year.

Diluted EPS for the quarter was $0.58, down from $1.17 in the same quarter last year. The adjusted diluted EPS also saw a decrease, falling to $0.63 from $1.11. However, it’s worth noting that the adjusted diluted EPS for the three months ending September 30, 2019, before the pandemic, was $0.35.

As for inventories, the net total amounted to $149.6 million at the end of September 2023, showing a marginal increase compared to $149.2 million at the end of June 2023.

“Our first quarter consolidated net sales were impacted due to major flooding in our Vermont manufacturing plant and strong prior year results that benefited from delivery of pandemic related written order backlog. Also, as expected, the economy has slowed down. Despite these challenges, we were able to maintain a strong gross margin of 61.1 per cent and an adjusted operating margin of 12.1 per cent,” said Farooq Kathwari, Ethan Allen’s chairman, president, and CEO.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DP)