Losses, sales contraction accelerate at WestPoint Home  

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 8/8/2007 1:31:00 PM

New York – Sales in 2007 at WestPoint Home are down by one-fifth from 2006, and operating losses are approaching $100 million, six months into the year. 

WestPoint Home saw second-quarter 2007 revenues drop 30.1% from the year-ago level to $165.8 million, a much faster decline than the overall six-month drop of 21.7% to $376.4 million, the company’s parent, American Real Estate Partners (AREP), reported today.

The WestPoint Home second-quarter operating loss of $53.0 million represented a 9.6% broader loss than for the same period last year – and again a steeper drop than the six-months loss of $92.0 million, a 6.6% greater loss than last year.

AREP reported an overall second-quarter 2007 net loss of $25.5 million, compared to net earnings of $79.1 million for the same period one year ago. Quarterly revenues of $191.4 million were down 33.0% from $285.4 million last year. The steep drop in revenue was, the company said, “due to reduced home fashion and real estate revenues.”

AREP said it ended the quarter with cash, cash equivalents and liquid investments of $3.6 billion.