Stanley Furniture To Lay off 250, Consolidate Operations

Furniture World Magazine

In response to the continued industry-wide slowdown, Stanley Furniture Company, Inc. announced plans to reduce its workforce and consolidate manufacturing operations by bringing its Martinsville production to Stanleytown and expanding warehouse operations at the Martinsville facility. The action will result in a reduction of about 250 associates over the next two to four months that will include both management and hourly employees at both facilities. The company employs approximately 1,300 people at the Martinsville and Stanleytown, VA facilities. It will not affect the Lexington or Robbinsville, N.C. facilities. "The continuing downturn in business conditions impacting our industry requires us to manage our cost structure," says Jeffrey R. Scheffer, Stanley Furniture chairman, president and chief executive officer. "We sincerely regret the impact that this move will have on many of our associates. However, we believe this action will align our staffing levels with current business conditions and strengthen our remaining manufacturing operations and provide us the opportunity to produce our products more efficiently. We remain more committed than ever to domestic manufacturing and to operational improvements that improve quality, productivity and shortens our already quick delivery times." To ease the transition for its associates, Stanley Furniture will work closely with the Virginia Employment Commission to provide career counseling, skills assessment, job development, job search assistance and referrals. In addition, Stanley Furniture will apply for federal Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) under the Trade Act. If certified, associates may be eligible to receive extended income support through Trade Readjustment Allowances, training programs, job search allowances and/or relocation allowances. "My hope is that once business conditions improve," Scheffer says, "we will be able to rehire some of the talented and loyal associates who have helped make Stanley Furniture the leader that we are today." The Company expects to record a pre-tax restructuring and impairment charge of about $6 million ($ 4.1 million after tax), or $.39 per share, about half of which will be non- cash in nature. Most of the earnings impact is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2007 and the first quarter of 2008. Established in 1924, Stanley Furniture Company, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of wood furniture targeted at the upper-medium price range of the residential market. Remaining manufacturing facilities are located in Stanleytown, Va., and Robbinsville and Lexington, N.C.