Rowe Cos. / ROW

About Rowe Cos.

1650 Tysons Blvd., Suite 710, McLean, Va. 22102
www.therowecompanies.com | 703-847-8670 | Founded: 1946

Industry: Manufacturing | Category: Top 100 Companies

Rowe's furniture manufacturing operation still has not recovered from production hiccups and other maladies that company officials attributed to the conversion to a new "enterprise resource planning" computer system in 2004. Toward the end of 2005, the company brought in two consulting firms, Morgan Joseph and Co. and the Carl Marks Advisory Group LLC, to offer financial advice and management consulting for Rowe Furniture. As part of the Carl Marks recommendations, the company eliminated the chief financial officer position for Rowe. Three Carl Marks consultants retained top operational positions in an interim capacity at Rowe Furniture.
The Storehouse chain gave company officials more to smile about in the past year, opening 10 new stores.
In fiscal 2005, which ended Nov. 27, net shipments, a measure of revenue, increased 1.4 percent for Rowe, to $299.4 million from $295.2 million in a comparable period in 2004. But the furniture production problems contributed to a $5.3 million loss for the fiscal year, compared with an $890,000 profit the year before. Gerald M. Birnbach, the company's president and chairman, said that costs spiked because of "unprecedented" price increases in raw materials.
The company also entered into a credit agreement with General Electric Commercial Finance for as much as $50 million in early 2006.

Chairman and President: Gerald M. Birnbach

2007 Financial Data

Total employees: 2,435 | Local employees: 251