Crown Crafts, Inc. Announces Sale of Certain Churchill Weavers, Inc. Assets
GONZALES, La., April 2, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Crown Crafts, Inc. (the "Company") (Nasdaq:CRWS) today announced that it has sold the Churchill Weavers name, together with Churchill Weavers' other intellectual property, domain name and website, yarn inventory, looms and other weaving, sewing and laundry equipment, to Wilford Morris, owner of Walcot Weavers based in Lafayette, Indiana, for $275,000. The Company has also sold a small portion of the Churchill Weavers' property in Berea, Kentucky, and Churchill Weavers' archives and certain antiquities to another individual for $110,000. In addition, a substantial amount of Churchill Weavers' finished goods inventory was sold in February and March 2007, and the Company has received orders for the sale of the balance of the finished goods inventory. All Churchill Weavers products will be shipped by the end of April 2007. The Company will begin marketing for sale the remaining property in Berea, Kentucky in the following week.
"Churchill Weavers has been a well-known brand in America since 1922. We are happy that the Churchill quality and tradition will be continued by another American company," commented E. Randall Chestnut, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company.
"We are very pleased that we were able to purchase the Churchill brand, which will be combined with Three Weavers and Grace Richey Clarke under the Walcot Weavers umbrella. We are excited to continue the long heritage of Churchill Weavers," commented Mr. Morris.
Crown Crafts, Inc. designs, markets and distributes infant and juvenile consumer products, including bedding, blankets, bibs, bath items and accessories, and luxury hand-woven home decor. Its subsidiaries include Hamco, Inc. in Louisiana, Crown Crafts Infant Products, Inc. in California, and Churchill Weavers, Inc. in Kentucky. Crown Crafts is America's largest distributor of infant bedding, bibs and bath items. The Company's products include licensed and branded collections as well as exclusive private label programs for certain of its customers.
This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based upon management's current expectations, projections, estimates and assumptions. Words such as "expects," "believes," "anticipates" and variations of such words and similar expressions identify such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements. These risks include, among others, general economic conditions, including changes in interest rates, in the overall level of consumer spending and in the price of oil, cotton and other raw materials used in the Company's products, changing competition, changes in the retail environment, the level and pricing of future orders from the Company's customers, the Company's dependence upon third-party suppliers, including some located in foreign countries, customer acceptance of both new designs and newly-introduced product lines, actions of competitors that may impact the Company's business, disruptions to transportation systems or shipping lanes used by the Company or its suppliers, and the Company's dependence upon licenses from third parties. Reference is also made to the Company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for additional factors that may impact the Company's results of operations and financial condition. The Company does not undertake to update the forward-looking statements contained herein to conform to actual results or changes in our expectations, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
CONTACT: Crown Crafts, Inc.
Olivia Elliott
(225) 647-9124
Walcot Weavers
Reba Runyan
(765) 742-7707
Released April 2, 2007