ST LOUIS -- Furniture Brands International announced net sales of $289.5 million for the second quarter of 2010 vs. $288.3 million for the same period in 2009.
/quotes/comstock/13*!fbn/quotes/nls/fbn (FBN 5.00, 0.00, 0.00%) announced today its financial results for the second quarter and six months ended June 30, 2010.

FBI said net sales for the second quarter of 2010 reflect a net decrease of $12 million from the 2009 quarter in the company's ready-to-assemble business as a result of its decision to exist two unprofitable lines of business.

For the 2010 second quarter, FBI reported net income of $4.2 million compared to a loss of $16 million in the second quarter of 2009.

"Furniture Brands' ongoing efforts to reposition the company delivered solid year-over-year gross margin improvement for the second straight quarter. We have ongoing initiatives in place to drive profitable sales as we eliminate costs from our operations and reduce our break-even point. These are essential elements of our business strategy and will help us become a stronger company in the future," said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ralph P. Scozzafava.

"The strong performance in gross margin is being driven by several factors -- 45 of our 55 production lines have been converted to a cellular manufacturing design, domestic distribution and transportation costs are being reduced while we're improving customer service to our dealers, and our lean implementation is yielding a more competitive cost structure as well as delivering stronger quality performance in our factories. We have also vastly improved safety in all of our facilities, which is lowering our workers compensation costs while the benefits to our people are tremendous," Scozzafava said.

Read Furniture Brand Intl's press release.