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Flexsteel Earns Spot in Forbes' Top 200

3 November 2000

Flexsteel Earns Spot in Forbes' Top 200

    DUBUQUE, Iowa--Nov. 3, 2000--In what they called a "strong group of contenders," Forbes unveiled in its October 30, 2000 issue its selection of the "200 Best Small Companies," a list which includes Flexsteel Ind., Inc., for the first time.
    The list was compiled with what Forbes called "tough benchmarks." Analysts not only looked for steady growth in sales and earnings for the past five years, but also scrutinized information "buried ... in the footnotes to financial statements."
    The small companies in this study were those with annual sales between $5 and $350 million and an annual growth rate of at least 5%; Flexsteel's sales for its last fiscal year were $287 million, with a 5-year average growth rate of 7%. In selecting the top 200, Forbes also looked at companies' long-term debt (Flexsteel has none) and five-year earnings' growth.
    "We are pleased to be included," said K. Bruce Lauritsen, Flexsteel's President and Chief Executive Officer. "It is really a recognition of a solid record of strength and stability. While Forbes looked at the past five years, we have over a century behind us of careful management as well as growth." It is that philosophy, Lauritsen said, that has brought the company to its present leading position in upholstered furniture and specialty seating.