Sealy Mattress Corporation, the world's largest manufacturer of bedding products, today announced results for the second fiscal quarter ending May 30, 2004.

For the quarter, Sealy reported sales of $316.6 million, an increase of 17.3% from $269.8 million for the same period a year ago. Net loss for the quarter was $82.2 million. Excluding recapitalization expenses, Sealy would have reported net income of $10.6 million compared with a net loss of $1.0 million a year earlier. For the six months ending May 30, 2004, Sealy reported sales of $634.8 million, an increase of 13.7% from $558.1 million. Net loss year-to-date was $70.9 million. Excluding recapitalization expenses, Sealy would have reported a net income of $21.8 million compared with $8.1 million a year earlier.

"We are very pleased with our second quarter and the sell through of our new products which resulted in a strong 12.9% unit growth and a 5.3% average unit selling price increase for the domestic business," said David J. McIlquham, Sealy's President and Chief Executive Officer. "These results were driven by the continued success of the new Unicased Posturepedic® product and momentum from the launch of Stearns & Foster Unilock® and TripLCased® products which were almost fully rolled out by the end of May. We also continue to make excellent progress on our manufacturing and working capital areas of focus. Finally, during the quarter we completed the transaction with affiliates of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P. (KKR). We are excited with this partnership and KKR's commitment to our continued focus on new product development and innovation that is delivering consumer preferred products to the market," said McIlquham.