Decorize reports dramatic rise in orders

Decorize Inc. reported its open sales orders of home accents grew 116% during the second quarter of fiscal 2006.

This dramatic rise is due in part to record-breaking orders taken at the October market. Also, year-over-year orders in its independent retail sales channel, Guildmaster, have more than doubled.

"We were fortunate enough to have a very, very strong High Point market and then regional markets excelled our expectations," said Susan Andrulis, vice president of specialty retail, Guildmaster.

"The changes that we at Decorize have implemented in our product design process, as well as improvements to our supply chain have resulted in significant sales growth," said CEO Steve Crowder. "Although the increased order activity did not have a positive impact to our second quarter results, we anticipate the increased activity will lead to much stronger sales levels during the third quarter."

The Springfield, Mo.-based manufacturer reported a loss for the quarter of $700,000, due to lower sales volume. Because orders cannot be booked as sales until the products are delivered, the large quantity of orders now being processed will have a more positive effect on results in the second half of the fiscal year.

Andrulis listed Atlanta, Dallas and Chicago as the company's strongest winter markets.

"We found customer flow was really high, especially in Atlanta, and they were all purchasing; the orders were larger," Andrulis said. "We're really attributing a lot of the success to our design team. ... If you can get the design right and hit the trend, which we feel like we have, it somewhat sells itself."

During the fiscal year, some shareholders exercised their warrants to purchase Decorize shares in exchange for 2.1 million common shares of Decorize.

"This show of confidence by major shareholders has confirmed the optimistic direction and progress that management has made to date," Crowder said. "The proceeds from the exercising of these warrants have provided additional capital to expedite the delivery of our product."