T.net sales  dropped 9.2% $331.9 million, down compared with the prior-year period

La-Z-Boy reported a net loss of $53.7 million for the fiscal quarter ended October 25. The company blamed further weakened consumer demand for furniture for the loss. Kurt L. Darrow, La-Z-Boy's President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "Over the course of the quarter, we experienced a progressive decline in sales trends, particularly in October, as sales deteriorated in conjunction with the turmoil in the global financial and credit markets."

The company said in a statement Tuesday that, due to the overall tightening of the financial markets, La-Z-Boy will withdraw credit support to certain independent dealers which will likely result in the closure of 15 to 20 dealer owned La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries stores over the next 90 to 120 days. Darrow said, "While we regret having to make these moves, they are necessary in light of the tight credit environment. A portion of the expense taken for bad debts this quarter is related to these stores and, while closing them will impact our volumes going forward, we believe it prudent to allocate resources to more productive stores within the system in an effort to contain future bad debt charges."

La-Z-Boy recently announced a 10% workforce reduction - 850 employees - across all levels of the company.

Commenting on the company's business outlook, Darrow said, "The instability that continues to define the overall macroeconomic environment points to the likelihood of a protracted recession. We are particularly concerned with the inconsistency and lack of visibility of our incoming order rates coupled with the consumer confidence index falling to its lowest level on record. With that as a backdrop, the company deemed it prudent to suspend yearly guidance at this time. We will continue to run our business to improve profitability in this uncertain economic environment."