Issue Date:5/27/2003
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Issue Date:5/27/2003
Hardwood Floors E-News Tuesday, May 27, 2003 Issue 212 Next issue published June 9, 2003 Deadline for items: June 5, 2003 Send news to [email protected]
Armstrong Holdings Reports Wood Flooring Sales Increase Armstrong Holdings Inc. (Lancaster, Pa.) reported first quarter 2003 net sales of $774.9 million, up 3.6 percent from 2002's first quarter net sales of $748.0 million. Excluding the effects of favorable foreign exchange rates, consolidated net sales decreased by 1.1 percent. Wood flooring sales increased, while all other segment sales were lower (after adjusting for the benefits of a weaker U.S. dollar), primarily due to lower sales volumes. Wood flooring net sales of $167.2 million in the first quarter of 2003 increased 3.9 percent from $160.9 million in the first quarter of 2002. This increase was driven primarily by increased volume and by an improved mix of products, the company reported. Operating income in this segment was $2.2 million in the first quarter of 2003, compared with $8.7 million during the same period in 2002. The decline in operating income was primarily due to increases in lumber costs. Overall, first quarter 2003 operating income for the company was $11.3 million, compared with income of $40.5 million in the first quarter of 2002. This decline was due mostly to lower net sales, excluding the effect of foreign exchange rates, and from higher raw material costs, according to the company.
McSwain Carpets Acquires McSwain Hardwoods McSwain Carpets (Cincinnati) has announced its acquisition of McSwain Hardwood Floor Company, reuniting two separate family businesses. In the mid-1960s, Ron McSwain joined his brother Ralph in his hardwood flooring business, drawing upon the family trade established by their grandfather and father. Ron later left the hardwood business to found McSwain Carpets in 1969, while Ralph continued to steer the hardwood flooring operation. Today, the fourth generation, Jason McSwain of McSwain Carpets and Michael McSwain of McSwain Hardwood Floor Co., will combine their companies' strengths to operate as a family corporation once more. Under the name McSwain Carpets, the company will sell and install more than $40 million of every type of flooring in the greater Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, markets. In addition, McSwain Carpets will provide goods and services to retail customers, builders, property managers and commercial accounts throughout the Tri-State area. While the former McSwain Carpets did handle some wood products and installation, "the acquisition will greatly expand our capabilities to make us as competitive in wood as we are presently in carpet, vinyl, laminate and ceramic tile," says Jim Leamer, president and CEO of McSwain Carpets.
NWFA School on Location in Longhorn State NWFA’s latest Installation and Sand & Finish School was held in Houston May 13-16. Volunteer instructors led by NWFA’s Steve Seabaugh and Rusty Swindoll included: Jim Schumacher, 3M Construction & Home Improvement; Rob Johnson and Brent Sorbet, Basic Coatings; Eric Bennett and J.R. Ryan, BonaKemi USA Inc.; Bob Moffett, K&T Sanders; Don Smithson, Clarke American Sanders; Larry LeFevre, Dura Seal; Ron Hendricks, E.J. Welch Company; Janet Sullivan, Lenmar Inc.; Chad Baker, National Coatings Company; Tom Peotter, Oshkosh Floor Designs; David Anderson, Powernail Company Inc.; Jacky Tran, Shine On; A.J. Winstead and Dave Stark, Virginia Abrasives Corporation; and Vikki Johnson, Wagner Electronic Products. The sponsoring distributor was Trinity Hardwood.