After some difficult years, cabinet companies led the sales gains in the FDM 300 in 2013. Many medium-sized cabinet companies recorded solid gains, and positive sales growth for the second year in a row. Some of the larger companies reported a much stronger fourth quarter.

Overall, the FDM 300 group of companies recorded a second year in a row of sales gains in 2013. We calculated annual sales for this group of 300 companies to be $39.630 billion in 2013, an increase of 5.3 percent over sales reported and estimated for the year 2012.

The FDM 300 is a group of the 300 largest cabinet, furniture, millwork, store fixture, office/contract and component producers in North America. Additional information can be found at www.cabinetmakerfdm.com by clicking on the FDM 300 tab or searching for a specific company.

KCMA survey: 21 percent gain
Participating cabinet manufacturers in the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association’s monthly Trend of Business Survey reported sales totaling $5.6 billion for the year 2013. That figure is an increase of 20.7 percent compared to total sales for 2012. Stock sales were up 26.2 percent; semi-custom sales gained 16.3 percent; and custom sales increased 16.9 percent. A year ago, participating cabinet manufacturers reported sales of $4.7 billion in 2012, up 7.3 percent compared to 2011.

For the month of December 2013, monthly sales were up 24.9 percent compared to December 2012. Stock sales increased 30.9 percent, semi-custom sales were up 20.2 percent, and custom sales gained 17.9 percent compared to December 2012.

Survey participants include stock, semi-custom and custom companies with combined sales representing about 70 percent of the fragmented U.S. kitchen cabinet and bath vanity market.

Changes in Texas
Cardell Cabinetry closed its large San Antonio operation last year. Cardell was one of the largest residential cabinet manufacturers, employing more than 1,700 and with annual sales of $200 million as recently as 2008, according to FDM 300 data. The company had to deal with the housing downturn, mounting debt and outstanding OSHA fines.

Fortune Brands Home and Security acquired WoodCrafters Home Products LLC. The company is based in Weslaco, Texas, and makes bathroom cabinets and vanities for big box and other retailers. In 2012, the company employed 1,800 people at operations in Texas and Mexico, and reported sales of $220 million. Both Cardell and WoodCrafters were among our 10 largest cabinet companies in 2012.

Largest cabinet producers
Here’s a look at the largest cabinet companies in the FDM 300 for 2013.
1. MasterBrand Cabinets, the Fortune Brands Home and Security’s kitchen and bath cabinetry segment, recorded sales gains along with its purchase of WoodCrafters. Net sales for the kitchen and bath cabinetry segments were $1.642 billion (We had estimated $1.575 billion in our FDM 300 report based on third quarter data.). Company makes Aristokraft, Diamond, HomeCrest, Omega, Schrock and other brands. Also, sales for the kitchen and bath cabinetry segments in the fourth quarter were up 34 percent.
2. Masco Corp.’s actual annual sales for cabinet and related products segment was $1.014 billion. Our earlier estimate of $1.05 billion was based on third quarter sales for the cabinet and related products. The maker of KraftMaid, Merillat, Quality and other brands reported that net sales increased 9 percent from increased dealer channel sales from repair and remodel activity.

3. American Woodmark reported annual sales of $630.4 million in its 2013 fiscal year. The Winchester, Va., company operates nine cabinet plants across the country.
4. RSI Home Products, based in Anaheim, operates nine plants and makes stock and semi-custom cabinets. We estimated annual sales to be $290 million in 2013.
5. Norcraft Companies Annual sales were estimated to be $340 million, based on third quarter info. The maker of Fieldstone, Norcraft and Starmark and other brand recently launched an initial public offering of common stock.
6. Elkay would not update most information. We estimated annual sales for the cabinet business to be $250 million in 2013.

7. Armstrong Cabinet Products is reported to be changing its name in 2014. We estimated annual sales of $180 million in 2013. The Texas-based company operates a cabinet factory in Thompsontown, Pa. ACProducts, Inc. bought Armstrong’s cabinet division in 2012.
8. U.S. Home Systems, Inc., was purchased by Home Depot in October 2012 and continues to be listed here. The company, now known as U.S. Remodelers, makes kitchen cabinets and countertops exclusively for the retailer. It is still based in Lewisville, Texas, and operates a large cabinet plant in Charles City, Va. We don’t have an updated sales figure from parent company Home Depot.
9. Wood-Mode’s annual sales were reported to us to be $130 million. The Kreamer, Pa., company makes custom and semicustom cabinets.

10. Leedo reported annual sales of $90 million to us. The main plant is in East Bernard, Texas. A former Cardell plant in El Campo was added in 2012.

Strong fourth quarter
According to some of the largest companies, sales growth is accelerating.
"Our balance sheet strengthened during 2013, even as we completed the WoodCrafters acquisition, repurchased $52 million of our shares and initiated a quarterly dividend," said Lee Wyatt, chief financial officer of Fortune Brands Home & Security, in a statement.
The company's 2014 annual outlook is based on a home products market growth assumption of 10 to 11 percent. Based on the company's strong performance, its confidence in the housing market recovery and expectation to continue outperforming the market, it expects full-year 2014 net sales to increase 11 to 13 percent.
"We have built strong momentum over the past two years," said Chris Klein, chief executive officer, Fortune Brands Home & Security. "We believe we are still in the early stages of a multi-year housing recovery and are well positioned to continue to leverage our structural competitive advantages and drive profitable growth well into the future."
Masco reported a strong fourth quarter with improved top and bottom line growth across all five operating segments. Sales growth was driven by new products and increased international sales that outperformed the European economies.
In North America, Masco continued to benefit from the growth of new home construction and improved repair and remodel activity.
New Masco president Keith Allman sees growth for the company in 2014. “Our focus will be to continue to maximize the benefits of this activity and maintain the positive momentum that started for us in the fourth quarter of 2012. We believe we are well positioned to grow our key brands and to gain market share,” he said in a statement.

Turning back to the FDM 300, sales increases in 2012 and 2013 come after five consecutive years of declines.
A year earlier, we estimated sales for this group of 300 companies in the United States and Canada to be $37.632 in 2012. That was an increase of 4 percent over sales for this group in 2011, which reached $36.167 billion.
For 2014, most cabinet companies large and small are expecting a good year and a year of sales growth.