Mohawk Industries (Calhoun, Ga.) announced that its net sales for the first quarter of 2011 were 1.3 billion, which was flat when compared with the same quarter of 2010, but profits increased 14 percent to 23.4 million compared with 20.5 million during the same period in 2010.
Jeffrey S. Lorberbaum, Chairman and CEO stated in a release, "We grew our operating margin to 4.7% excluding restructuring charges, an improvement of approximately 40 basis points over the first quarter last year by continuing to drive cost reductions, manufacturing improvements and efficiency gains throughout the enterprise." Lorberbaum also characterized the outlook as "strengthening" for the rest of the year.
The company noted that the commercial market was seeing improvement but that the residential category was still lagging, although residential order trends had turned positive at the end of the first quarter and continued into April.
Mohawk anticipates that pent-up demand in the residential remodeling market and improving home sales will positively impact results this year. Price and volume increases, along with cost reductions will enhance profitability, the company said.
The entire release can be read here.
