Leggett announces 33-cent per-share earnings

First-quarter earnings were 33 cents per share, including 4 cents for restructuring costs, compared to 37 cents in first-quarter 2005, which included 1 cent for restructuring costs.

Sales for the manufacturer of residential and office furniture totaled $1.38 billion, up 5.9 percent from the same period last year. Acquisitions increased sales by about 6 percent but were partially offset by a 1 percent decline in sales due to restructuring activity.

The company’s two recent acquisitions were both in residential furnishings and are expected to contribute about $53 million in annual revenues.

“On a variety of fronts, we are making the advances we expected to make, enabling us to post first-quarter earnings at the upper end of our guidance,” said chairman and CEO Felix E. Wright in a news release. “We are achieving solid progress on our restructuring initiative and expect the project to be substantially complete by the end of the second quarter.”

Wright said he expects sales to grow 5 percent in 2006 and full-year earnings per share to increase as much as 35 percent.

Company shares (NYSE: LEG) closed April 27 at $26.68, compared to a 52-week range of $18.19 to $28.60.