Samson Holding, the Chinese owner of U.S. furniture brands Universal Furniture, Legacy Classic Furniture, Southern Furniture, Craftmaster, and Baker, reported sales of $397.6 million for 2020 - a 13 percent decline over 2019.

 

Samson said the decline was because of the pandemic and a shortage of international containers, which it said resulted in delayed orders and shipments. It also suffered a one-time

 

The vast majority the company's revenue - $378 million of the $397 million - comes from the U.S. market. Most of the rest comes from China.

 

Samson said it received $12.7 million in grants and subsidies from the U.S. government in 2020 to sustain payroll. It received $479,000 in China.

 

“While the industry continues to face supply chain disruptions due to the extended lockdown, Samson has been responding to adversities through flexible strategic adjustments,” Samson wrote in a report. “Although sales reduced significantly in the first half of 2020, the diversification of sales channels and the recovery of the U.S. housing market have put Samson back on track.

 

“On the demand side, the Federal Reserve (“FED”) lowered the interest rate to zero in March 2020 in support of household and business cash flow. The lower mortgage rates have led to a more encouraging and stable housing market, which in turn has powered a healthy upward trend of order volume for the F&HF industry. On the supply side, in order to meet the rising demand and mitigate the risk of supply disruption, Samson is partnering with several shipping service providers to ensure container availability while also expanding work force recruitment to handle the additional volume.”

 

Samson is planning to build a furniture plant in Vietnam later this year. It is also set to add three production lines in the U.S.