Steelcase posts 2nd-quarter loss due to health care charge

Steelcase posts 2Q loss due to health care charge

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Office furniture maker Steelcase Inc. posted a fiscal first-quarter loss on Monday, dragged down by a charge related to the recently enacted federal health care overhaul.

The reforms eliminated a tax deduction companies received for the portion of prescription drug coverage they gave retirees that the federal government funded.

For the three months that ended May 28, the company posted a loss of $11.1 million, or 8 cents per share. That compares with breaking even in the same period a year earlier.

The health care charge totaled $11.4 million. The company did not break out the per-share costs of the charge.

Revenue edged slightly lower to $541.8 million from $545.6 million.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who typically exclude one-time items like the charge related to health premiums, on average expected a loss of 6 cents per share on revenue of $529.8 million.

The company expects second-quarter earnings of 1 cent to 5 cents per share on revenue in the range of $560 million to $585 million.

Analysts are expecting a profit of 3 cents per share on revenue of $576.4 million.

Shares of Steelcase climbed a penny to $7.65 in after-hours trading. The stock had closed up 19 cents, or 2.6 percent, at $7.64.