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Lumber Liquidators: Raid by feds sinks stock

Lumber Liquidators stock falls 5 percent after it discloses that federal authorities raided its corporate offices because of questions about imports of wood-flooring products. Lumber Liquidators has more than 300 hardwood-flooring stores in North America.

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Sigit Pamungkas/Reuters/File
A worker marks a log owned by timber company PT Larasati Multisentosa in Pasuruan, Indonesia's East Java province, in 2012. A global trade in illegal timber worth billions of dollars has put Western retailers in a tough spot. On Thursday, federal authorities raided the headquarters of wood flooring retailer Lumber Liquidators in Toano, Va.
  • By Michael Felberbaum Associated Press

| RICHMOND, Va.

Federal authorities on Thursday executed a search warrant at the Virginia headquarters of hardwood flooring retailer Lumber Liquidators.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations spokesman Brandon Montgomery said the warrant was executed at the company's Toano, Va., headquarters and a Lumber Liquidators business location in suburban Richmond in coordination with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of Justice.

On Friday, the company disclosed that federal authorities searched its corporate offices in an action related to imports of wood flooring products. Its stock dropped $5.83, or 5 percent, to $107.13 after that announcement. 

In a statement, the company said it is cooperating to provide information and documentation to "answer questions relating to the importation of certain products." 

Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc. has more than 305 stores in North America.

In July, Lumber Liquidators said its second-quarter net income jumped nearly 68 percent to $20.4 million as its revenue rose to $257.1 million and lower costs increased its profit margins. It also announced plans to construct a new East Coast distribution center outside Richmond and lease another facility in California to help make its supply chain more efficient.

The stock has traded between $47.31 and $115.59 in the past 52 weeks, and has more than doubled since the start of the year.

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