IndustryWeek Magazine Names HNI Corporation as One of 50 Best U.S. Manufacturers

MUSCATINE, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--HNI Corporation (NYSE:HNI) announced today that IndustryWeek magazine has again named the Corporation one of its 50 Best U.S. Manufacturers. HNI has been named all five years since inception of the award.

“The rankings reflect our commitment to ongoing continuous improvement and creating long-term value for our stakeholders. We thank each of our members for their contribution to achieving this recognition.”

“We are pleased to be recognized in this prestigious ranking of manufacturers,” said Stan A. Askren, HNI Corporation Chairman, President and CEO. “The rankings reflect our commitment to ongoing continuous improvement and creating long-term value for our stakeholders. We thank each of our members for their contribution to achieving this recognition.”

IndustryWeek’s annual recognition of the 50 Best Manufacturing Companies, published in its June 2007 publication, is a ranking of top performers culled from a list of the 500 largest manufacturing companies in the United States. The ranking considered financial measures that pertain to operational efficiency and market success. Market metrics include revenue growth, return on equity (ROE), and profit margin. Manufacturing specific metrics were chosen to address the capital/asset intensive nature of manufacturing including asset turnover, inventory turnover, and return on assets (ROA).

The Corporation remains focused on creating long-term shareholder value through investment in building brands, product solutions and selling models, enhancing its strong member-owner culture, and remaining focused on its long-standing rapid continuous improvement programs to build best total cost and a lean enterprise.

HNI Corporation is a NYSE traded company providing products and solutions for the home and workplace environments. HNI Corporation is the second largest office furniture manufacturer in the world and is also the nation’s leading manufacturer and marketer of gas- and wood-burning fireplaces. The Corporation’s strong brands, including HON^®, Allsteel^®, Gunlocke^®, Paoli^®, Lamex^®, Heatilator^®, Heat & Glo^TM, and Quadra-Fire^®, have leading positions in their markets. HNI Corporation is committed to maintaining its long-standing corporate values of integrity, financial soundness and a culture of service and responsiveness. By doing so, in 2007 the Corporation was recognized by Fortune Magazine as one of America’s Most Admired Companies. HNI Corporation’s common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol HNI. More information can be found on the Corporation’s website at www.hnicorp.com.

Statements in this release that are not strictly historical, including statements as to plans, outlook, objectives, and future financial performance, are "forward-looking" statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “confident,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “likely,” “may,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” and variations of such words and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, which may cause the Corporation's actual results in the future to differ materially from expected results. These risks include, without limitation: the Corporation's ability to realize financial benefits from its (a) price increases, (b) cost containment and business simplification initiatives for the entire Corporation, (c) investments in strategic acquisitions, new products and brand building, (d) investments in distribution and rapid continuous improvement, (e) repurchases of common stock, and (f) ability to maintain its effective tax rate; uncertainty related to the availability of cash to fund future growth; lower than expected demand for the Corporation's products due to uncertain political and economic conditions; lower industry growth than expected; major disruptions at our key facilities or in the supply of any key raw materials, components or finished goods; uncertainty related to disruptions of business by terrorism, military action, acts of God or other Force Majeure events; competitive pricing pressure from foreign and domestic competitors; higher than expected costs and lower than expected supplies of materials (including steel and petroleum based materials); higher than expected costs for energy and fuel; changes in the mix of products sold and of customers purchasing; restrictions imposed by the terms of the Corporation’s revolving credit facility and note purchase agreement; currency fluctuations and other factors described in the Corporation's annual and quarterly reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Forms 10-K and 10-Q. The Corporation undertakes no obligation to update, amend, or clarify forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.