Roanoke Times Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 3, 1991 TAG: 9104030075 SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY/ BUSINESS WRITER DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
When the semiannual trade show opens April 18 in High Point, N.C., manufacturers will be doing things they normally wouldn't do to attract retail business, Gerald Birnbach said at Rowe's annual meeting in Roanoke Tuesday.
Birnbach also said that while some industry watchers indicate the furniture business is getting better, the Salem company has yet to see a turnaround.
"Maybe July," he said.
On Dec. 2, Rowe and its Salem Frame division ended a fiscal year in which earnings declined 86 percent and sales were off 13 percent from the previous year. Net earnings in 1990 were $263,000, or 10 cents a share, against $1.8 million, or 72 cents a share, in 1989. Net shipments were $72.1 million in 1990 against $82.7 in 1989.
The company took a $250,000 loss in net income for 1991's first quarter, which ended March 3. Last week, it announced layoffs of 45 employees, or about 10 percent of its work force. Birnbach said he does not anticipate more layoffs.
Birnbach took just 10 minutes to tell the small gathering that the poor financial health of retailers has meant Rowe has had orders it couldn't ship because the buyers couldn't pay.
Then he was asked to defend a $275,000 incentive-plan payment that he received in 1990.
"How do you justify voting yourself a $275,000 bonus last year?" asked Clarence Lunsford of Roanoke, a stockholder and a former Rowe employee.
Birnbach said it represented the end of a plan put into effect "many years ago" and discontinued in 1990, resulting in payments to five executive officers; the other four got $17,100 each.
Lunsford also asked if Birnbach's $2.7 million retirement plan would become the obligation of a new owner should Rowe Furniture be sold. He was told it would.
However, Birnbach said after the meeting that the company is not for sale. Rather, he said, Rowe is moving ahead with a plan to franchise retailers to sell its furniture.
The company recently opened a store near Woodbridge, and another is scheduled to open in May in Fairfax County. Those stores will be used to promote the franchise program, the company said.
by CNB