Mickey Holliman
Chairman, President and CEO
"...we see nothing, either in our order trends or in our conversations with retailers, that leads us to believe a near-term sustainable rebound in business is in sight".

In a statement issued today, Furniture Brands International announced a 4.1% decline in net sales and a 26.5% decline in earnings for the second quarter of 2003.

Net sales for the second quarter of 2003 were $579.6 million, compared with $604.5 million in the second quarter of 2002. Net earnings were $23.6 million as compared to $32.1 million in the second quarter of 2002.

Mickey Holliman
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
"The soft business environment the residential furniture industry has been experiencing for nearly three years continued in the second quarter of this year. The sales shortfall, which was somewhat larger than expected, together with operating profit margin compression arising from extensive plant down-time and increased promotional activity, negatively impacted our second quarter earnings performance.

Mr. Holliman concluded, "Once again we see nothing, either in our order trends or in our conversations with retailers, that leads us to believe a near-term sustainable rebound in business is in sight. Retail activity over the Memorial Day weekend was strong, but was bolstered to some degree by extensive promotions. Order trends in the month of June were slightly favorable against last year, but the results on the July 4th weekend were mixed, and we have not seen a continuation of June's positive trends in the first part of July. In short, we still have every reason to believe our sales will be essentially flat year-over-year in the second half of this year.

"We continue to address our cost structure, and we have recently announced additional plant closings. Nevertheless, because of the continuing softness in business, costs and inefficiencies associated with our ongoing domestic manufacturing realignment, and our focus on reducing our working capital, we have lowered our operating profit margin assumptions for the balance of the year and are revising our guidance modestly. We currently expect our third quarter earnings per share to be in the $0.40 to $0.43 range. We are also revising our full-year expectation to a range from $1.90 to $1.95. As has been our practice, we will provide an update on our third quarter and full-year expectations in early September."

Furniture Brands International is America's largest home furnishings manufacturer.