Haverty Furniture Reports 12.7% August Sales Increase

Furniture World News

Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc., reported sales for the month ended August 31, 2006. Havertys' August sales increased 12.7% to $77.1 million, compared with $68.4 million in August 2005. On a comparable- store basis, August sales increased 10.3%. Comparable- store sales do not include stores or locations opened, closed or otherwise non-comparable during the last 12 months. Sales for the first eight months of 2006 increased 6.7% to $570.6 million compared with $535.0 million in 2005. On a comparable- store basis, sales increased 4.9% for the first eight months. "Our August results mark the fourth consecutive month of strong comparable-store sales," said Clarence H. Smith, president and chief executive officer. "We believe our Havertys Collections(R) merchandise has made a strong connection with our target customer and combined with an improved in- stock position are the driving factors in our sales performance. August total written sales increased approximately 7% over last year and September is off to a very good start as total written business for the first four days, which includes the Labor Day weekend, is up by a mid-teen percentage. "We opened our first store in the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida area in August near the Sawgrass Mills Mall. During the month we also opened a new store in Cedar Hill, a southern suburb of Dallas, Texas, replacing an older store in the area and closed our store in Texarkana, Texas." Havertys is a full-service home furnishings retailer with 119 showrooms in 17 states in the Southern and Midwestern regions providing its customers with a wide selection of quality merchandise in middle- to upper-middle price ranges. Additional information is available on the Company's website at http://www.havertys.com/ .