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8-K - FORM 8-K - LA-Z-BOY INCv305073_8k.htm

 

 

NEWS RELEASE

 

Contact: Kathy Liebmann (734) 241-2438 kathy.liebmann@la-z-boy.com

  

LA-Z-BOY ANNOUNCES IT ANTICIPATES RECEIVING ADDITIONAL

CDSOA DISTRIBUTION

 

MONROE, MI. March 8, 2012—La-Z-Boy Incorporated (NYSE: LZB) today reported that it expects to receive a distribution of approximately $16 million in connection with antidumping duties that were withheld earlier.

 

The Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000 (“CDSOA”) provides for the distribution of antidumping duties collected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“Customs”) to eligible domestic producers that supported a successful antidumping petition (“Supporting Producers”). As we have previously disclosed, the Company or its subsidiaries have received such distributions as a result of our support of an antidumping petition on imports of wooden bedroom furniture from China. Certain manufacturers who did not support the antidumping petition (“Non-Supporting Producers”) filed actions in the United States Court of International Trade challenging the CDSOA’s “support requirement” and seeking to share in the distributions. As a result, Customs held back a portion of those distributions (“the Holdback”) pending resolution of the Non-Supporting Producers’ claims. The Court of International Trade dismissed all of the actions of the Non-Supporting Producers, who appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Customs advised that it expected to distribute the Holdback to the Supporting Producers after March 9, 2012. The Non-Supporting Producers sought injunctions first from the Court of International Trade and, when those efforts were unsuccessful, from the Federal Circuit directing Customs to retain the Holdback until the Non-Supporting Producers’ appeals were resolved.

 

On March 5, 2012, the Federal Circuit denied the motions for injunction, “without prejudicing the ultimate disposition of these cases.” As a result, we expect to receive a CDSOA distribution in the approximate amount of $16 million after March 9, 2012. We have been informed that Customs expects to make the distribution by mid-April of 2012, but there is no legally binding deadline for Customs to do so by then. Moreover, if the Federal Circuit were to reverse the decisions of the Court of International Trade and to determine that the Non-Supporting Producers are entitled to CDSOA distributions, it is possible that Customs may seek to have us return all or a portion of our company’s share of the Holdback.

 

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Forward-looking Information

 

This news release contains, and oral statements made from time to time by representatives of La-Z-Boy may contain, “forward-looking statements.” With respect to all forward-looking statements, we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ materially from those we anticipate or project due to a number of factors, including: (a) changes in consumer confidence and demographics; (b) speed of recovery from the recent economic recession or the emergence of a second wave of the recession; (c) changes in the real estate and credit markets and their effects on our customers and suppliers; (d) international political unrest, terrorism or war; (e) volatility in energy and other commodities prices; (f) the impact of logistics on imports; (g) interest rate and currency exchange rate changes; (h) operating factors, such as supply, labor or distribution disruptions; (i) restructuring actions; (j) changes in the domestic or international regulatory environment; (k) adoption of new accounting principles; (l) severe weather or other natural events such as hurricanes, earthquakes, flooding, tornadoes and tsunamis; (m) our ability to procure fabric rolls and leather hides or cut-and-sewn fabric and leather sets domestically or abroad; (n) fluctuations in our stock price; (o) information technology system failures; (p) effects of our brand awareness and marketing programs; (q) the discovery of defects in our products resulting in delays in manufacturing, recall campaigns, reputational damage, or increased warranty costs; (r) litigation arising out of alleged defects in our products; (s) our ability to locate new La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries® stores owners and negotiate favorable lease terms for new or existing locations; and (t) those matters discussed in Item 1A of our fiscal 2011 Annual Report on Form 10-K and other factors identified from time-to-time in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information or new developments or for any other reason.

 

Additional Information

 

This news release is just one part of La-Z-Boy’s financial disclosures and should be read in conjunction with other information filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is available at: http://investors.la-z-boy.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=92596&p=irol-sec. Investors and others wishing to be notified of future La-Z-Boy news releases, SEC filings and quarterly investor conference calls may sign up at: http://investors.la-z-boy.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=92596&p=irol-alerts&t=&id=&.

 

Background Information

 

La-Z-Boy Incorporated is one of the world’s leading residential furniture producers, marketing furniture for every room of the home. The La-Z-Boy Upholstery Group companies are Bauhaus, England and La-Z-Boy. The operating units in the Casegoods Group consist of two groups, one including American Drew, Lea and Hammary, and the second being Kincaid. The company-owned retail segment includes 84 of the 309 La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries® stores.

 

The corporation’s proprietary distribution network is dedicated exclusively to selling La-Z-Boy Incorporated products and brands, and includes 309 stand-alone La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries® stores and 549 independent Comfort Studios®, in addition to in-store gallery programs for the company’s Kincaid, England and Lea operating units. Additional information is available at http://www.la-z-boy.com/.

 

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