The company's wood flooring sales during the fourth quarter of 2011 rose 3.4 percent to $111.5 million from $107.8 million during the final quarter of 2010. More favorable input costs, reduced selling, general, administrative and manufacturing costs, and volume gains during the fourth quarter translated into an operating income of $9.1 million compared with the $32.0 million loss the wood flooring segment cost the company during the fourth quarter of 2010.
Overall, net sales at Armstrong increased 1.4 percent during the final quarter of 2011 to $652.1 million from $642.9 million during the final quarter of 2010.
"We continue to operate in an unpredictable economic environment, yet in the fourth quarter still managed to grow sales in all geographies other than Europe. Uncertainty in our end markets has continued to impact demand, and as a result, we saw lower volumes across most of our businesses," said Matt Espe, president and CEO.
For all of 2011, Armstrong had net sales totaling about $2.9 billion, up 3.4 percent from 2010's total of $2.7 billion. This resulted in net earnings of $112 million, an improvement over 2010, when the company earned $11 million.
Looking ahead to 2012, Armstrong expects "flat commercial opportunity in North America and a decline in Europe," and net sales to be between $2.9 billion and $3.0 billion. It expects earnings per share to be between $2.75 and $3.15 per diluted share, compared with $2.23 per diluted share in 2011.
