Krause’s Reports Loss of $13.4 Million

BREA — Sofa maker Krause’s Furniture Inc. reported a fiscal 1997 loss Tuesday of $13.4 million, or $1.28 a share, compared with an $8.7-million loss, or $2.21 a share, a year earlier.

Sales for the 53-week fiscal year, which ended Feb. 2, fell 7.8% to $112.7 million from $122.3 million in Krause’s prior fiscal year, which ended Jan. 28, 1996.

The ailing company obtained new financing last year in a private placement of notes and stock in return for $18.6 million from GE Capital Services and private investors. The new stock more than doubled the total shares outstanding, which accounts for the differences in the loss-per-share figures in the two years.

Philip M. Hawley, Krause’s chairman, said that efforts to return to profitability are progressing and that the company’s cash flow from operations was a positive $60,000 in the fourth quarter--the first positive quarter in almost two years.

For its fiscal fourth quarter, the company posted a loss of $1 million, or 5 cents a share, compared with a $4.2-million loss, 24 cents a share, in last year’s final three months. Quarterly sales remained flat at $30 million.

Hawley said the company’s sales were affected by the elimination of discount pricing.