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Steelcase opens on NYSE
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February 18, 1998: 4:06 p.m. ET
Office furniture maker, founded in 1912, finally gets around to going public
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Steelcase Inc. is the new kid on the block, taking its place on the Big Board Wednesday. The world's biggest maker of office furniture, Steelcase has annual sales of more than $2 billion. The company has been around since 1912, but is only going public now. It opened at $28 a share on the New York Stock Exchange.
Steelcase President and CEO James P. Hackett joined anchor Lauren Thierry on CNNfn's "In the Game."
Here is a transcript of that interview.
THIERRY: Congratulations on your IPO. I have to ask, you guys have been around since 1912. Why are you waiting until today to go public?
JAMES HACKETT, PRESIDENT AND CEO, STEELCASE: The reason we went public is that we had a number of shareholders, who as they've aged and are dealing with the estate issues, decided they wanted to move some of their stock into foundations. So, this is a secondary offering and all the sale of stock is going to fund foundations.
THIERRY: So, it seemed like the time was right on this. You know, the economy actually has a lot to do with the office furniture and office systems business. We have a robust economy now, a lot of people working. I take it that right now is a very good time for your company. What happens if the economy takes a downturn, like some economist predict it eventually will?
HACKETT: No question, there's wind in the sails from the economy being strong. But, there's so many companies now who are rethinking the way work is being done inside their corporations. And Steelcase is a provider of effective work environments, and that's what's creating a lot of demand.
THIERRY: You will expand and contract as the economy expands and contracts?
HACKETT: You know, our history has been to ride those kind of contractions out. We actually probably just have a slower growth rate. Our historical growth over the last 30 years has been fantastic. During previous recessions our company tends to lag other industries maybe by 10 to 12 months entering some of that downturn. And we basically flatten out, but never see a big drop.
THIERRY: Let's talk about work place trends as it relates to your company. What are you seeing as the work place trends and how do you work your company and products around that?
HACKETT: There's probably three specific issues that companies talk to us at length about. The first is the change in technology. You know, just look in your conference room where you work and I suspect you have to crawl on the floor to plug your computer in. There's not connections right at the desktop, no Internet interface, and that's a problem. As a result, we have furniture that now responds to that. As important as this drive to team structures, the flattening of the hierarchy.
THIERRY: Wait a second, I have a question about this. How does your office furniture respond to the fact that I don't have to bend down to plug in a computer?
HACKETT: There was never any consideration when buildings were built that that there would be laptop devices on furniture. So, they put the plugs in walls instead of your desk, for example. We do a tremendous amount of research and watch how people work and we find out that they would like us to help the interface of technology to the way they work.
THIERRY: So, we should bring the plug up at least to arm's level there?
HACKETT: Yes. And you know with the 'Net connection it's even more important, because people move their laptop from place to place and then they want to plug into the 'Net and go to work.
THIERRY: They sure do. I would be remiss if I didn't ask, how is the Asian financial crisis affecting your business?
HACKETT: The Asian financial crisis is not a factor in Steelcase's business. We have less than 4 percent of our sales there, except we have been there 25 years. And the best selling chair in Japan today is a Steelcase chair. Japanese market probably lags us 10 to 15 years in terms of adoption of some of these work practices. So, we find that we're very bullish on what might happen there.
THIERRY: Tell me about any other expansion plans you have.
HACKETT: Well, the company always has an eye out for expansion. We're aggressive in our growth plans and solving customer problems. And we're very happy about the prospects of next year. We've started off with a bang and we have a new system called Pathways that the market's very anxious to hear about.
THIERRY: Ready to go. Steelcase (SCS) opened today at $28. Best wishes to you and your IPO. James Hackett of Steelcase Inc.
HACKETT: Thank you very much, and I say hello to my mother.
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Steelcase Inc.
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