The CEO of Sleep Country says his company will be “opportunistic” when making moves in the near-term, as the company looks to bounce back from a disappointing quarter.

Earlier in the week, the mattress retailer reported revenues of $255.6 million, but earnings had fallen to $22.5 million, compared to $40.5 million a year prior.

Additionally, full-year earnings had fallen 36 per cent to $71.2 million.

“It was a bumpy quarter,” Sleep Country president and CEO Stewart Schaefer told BNN Bloomberg in a television interview on Thursday, pointing to geopolitical concerns in October and a soft stock market.

“November and December, our sales picked up nicely, but mainly around the promotional periods around Black Friday and Boxing Day. The consumer is still strong, we think, but is definitely quite cautious, especially on the discretionary spend.” 

With the uncertain state of the economy, Schaefer said he’s noticed people are less likely to make big purchases, which has hurt his business.

“When it comes to mortgage rates as high as they are, and people are a little uncertain of what's going to happen, whether we get into a soft landing or whatever, … it does have an effect on their confidence and so sometimes they'll pull back at times like this,” he said.

‘Opportunistic’ expansion

Schaefer said his company’s top concern is increasing market share in the mattress space. 

He said the company is going to be opportunistic, “whether it's M&A (mergers and acquisitions), whether it's buying back our stock, whether it's our dividend,” he said. “The money is no longer free, the allocation of capital is more important than ever before and we have lots of different opportunities ahead of us that we think we're in the early days in the expansion of our business.”

In recent years, Sleep Country has bought up sleep brands Silk and Snow, Endy, and Casper. While these are primarily online, direct-to-consumer brands, Schaefer said online mattress sales have fallen post-pandemic, so the company is looking to expand its brick-and-mortar presence for these brands.

“For our Casper brand, Silk and Snow brand and Endy brands, which we're really excited about and have performed well digitally, we're now bringing them into that tactile environment which our customers are asking for,” he said.

“We're agnostic where it transacts. Our job is to make sure that we make it easier for our consumers to engage with us.”

With files from The Canadian Press