Berkshire's furniture stores post small gains
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, August 18, 2003
Omaha, Neb. — Berkshire Hathaway said its home furnishings and jewelry retail operations posted modest gains in revenues and pretax earnings in the second quarter.
Revenues for the business segment — including furniture retailers Nebraska Furniture Mart, R.C. Willey, Jordan's, Star and Homemakers — came to $498 million in the period, up 2.9% from the same quarter a year ago. Same-store sales were down 1.1%.
Pretax earnings rose 6.5% to $33 million, although profits this year have been adversely affected by higher operating costs and the expenses of opening new stores, the company said.
Berkshire said another furnishings business it owns, rug, carpet and flooring producer Shaw Inds., saw revenues increase 4.6% in the quarter to $1.2 billion because of slightly higher prices for carpet and rugs and higher volume of hard floor surface sales. Pretax earnings declined about 3.5% to $109 million, reflecting higher raw materials and utilities costs.
