Herman Miller Inc. (NASDAQ: MLHR) published its earnings report for the fiscal second quarter on Wednesday that came in weaker than expected due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic that pushed businesses into work from home arrangements this year.
Herman Miller shares initially jumped more than 2% in after-hours trading on Wednesday but lost this gain later on. On a year-to-date basis, the stock is still over 2% down despite a more than 150% growth since March. Learn more about stocks and the stock market.
Are you looking for fast-news, hot-tips and market analysis? Sign-up for the Invezz newsletter, today.
Herman Miller reports 65.90 pence of adjusted EPS in Q2
Herman Miller said that its profit in the second quarter printed at £37.99 million that translates to 64.42 pence per share. In the same quarter last year, it had reported a much higher £58.20 million of profit or 98 pence per share. On an adjusted basis, the U.S. firm earned 65.90 pence per share. In separate news from the United States, Nordson said on Tuesday that its revenue slid to £414.90 million in the fiscal fourth quarter.
In terms of sales, Herman Miller recorded £463.75 million in the recent quarter versus the year-ago figure of £499.21 million. According to the Zeeland-based company, sales from its retail unit were 28% up on a year over year basis in Q2. Home offices-related items, it added, were highly in demand in recent months. In November, Herman Miller partnered with Community Foundation to combat the ongoing pandemic.
On the contrary, schools, offices, and hospitals driven demand for its furniture saw a sharp decline in sales in the second quarter due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic that has so far infected more than 17 million people in the United States and caused over 300 thousand deaths.
COVID-19 weighs on Herman’s North American contract segment
The COVID-19 crisis, as per Herman Miller, also resulted in a 28% decline in sales attributed to its business that caters to worksites in North America. The furniture maker said:
“COVID-19 surges and rising case levels throughout the region weighed on our North American contract segment. Customers remained hesitant to make decisions about their post-COVID workplaces given the uncertainty.”
Herman Miller performed largely upbeat in the stock market last year with an annual gain of roughly 35%. At the time of writing, it is valued at £1.77 billion and has a price to earnings ratio of 166.15.