PARK CITY, Utah–(BUSINESS WIRE<\/a>)– \nTo receive important updates and learn more about the nominees, visit www.EthanAllenGrowth.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n***<\/p>\n \nAugust 5, 2026<\/p>\n \nFellow Shareholders,<\/p>\n \nMy name is Doug Bergeron and I have invested significant personal capital to build a beneficial ownership stake of 5.0% in Ethan Allen because I believe this iconic American business represents one of the most compelling opportunities in the public markets today.<\/p>\n \nI have spent my career revitalizing growth and driving returns for shareholders. After extensive diligence, I see a Company with an exceptional brand, deep North American manufacturing capabilities and an impressive national retail footprint that should be producing substantially stronger growth. Ethan Allen is materially undervalued today, but with the right Board, leadership, strategy and execution, I believe the Company has the potential to triple shareholder value over the next three years. The obstacle to growth is not the brand or the underlying business; it is the governance and leadership overseeing it.<\/p>\n \nFor too long, Ethan Allen\u2019s Board has allowed the Company to stagnate and shrink under the same leadership that has failed to deliver meaningful growth for nearly two decades. Despite years of Chairman, President and CEO Farooq Kathwari\u2019s promises of being \u201cwell positioned,\u201d2<\/sup> the Company has only paid lip service to shareholder demands for investment in innovation, modernization and the digital capabilities needed to compete in today\u2019s growing luxury furniture market. The result is a business whose revenue has declined for two decades, shrinking while competitors have taken market share and grown into multibillion-dollar platforms. This underperformance, in light of the impressive underlying assets, is, in my view, unjustifiable and inexcusable: Ethan Allen possesses all the ingredients needed to compete. What it lacks is a Board and an executive leadership team with the skills, urgency and accountability required to modernize the business, restore profitable growth and unlock the Company’s full potential.<\/p>\n \nThat is why I have nominated a slate built for Ethan Allen\u2019s next chapter. These director candidates bring the experience that the current Board lacks across luxury and specialty retail, home furnishings, e-commerce, omnichannel execution, brand revitalization and customer acquisition, reinforced by expertise in audit and risk oversight, capital allocation and public company governance. This is not a slate assembled to criticize from the sidelines; it is a slate prepared to govern, oversee a leadership transition and help restore growth.<\/p>\n \nMy career has been defined by applying disciplined execution and a relentless focus on growth to transform underperforming businesses:<\/p>\n \nMy experiences at VeriFone and Cantaloupe reinforce the opportunity at Ethan Allen. I\u2019ve seen it firsthand: companies fall behind when leadership is complacent, resistant to changing strategy and unwilling to make the difficult decisions necessary to drive growth. Ethan Allen\u2019s deeply disappointing fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2026 results reinforce the urgent need for change. The Company reported a meaningful annual sales decline, weaker written orders in both retail and wholesale, compressed adjusted operating margins and lower earnings per share. Yet Mr. Kathwari\u2019s commentary remained strikingly disconnected from the reality of a shrinking business, repeating familiar assurances about strong margins, a robust balance sheet, technology, product introductions and being \u201cwell positioned.\u201d5<\/sup> Shareholders have heard these same themes for years. What they have not seen is execution that restores growth or a Board or management team that delivers the results shareholders deserve. Where Ethan Allen management points to \u201cmacro\u201d as an excuse, peer performance shows execution still matters.<\/p>\n \nThe problem is not that Ethan Allen lacks resources. The Company has a healthy balance sheet with $187.5 million in total cash and investments and no debt,6<\/sup> which should enable it to allocate resources toward brand-building, customer experience and digital initiatives that would drive traffic and recapture market share. Yet even as written orders declined sharply in the fourth quarter, marketing spend declined as a percentage of sales. Management continues to offer shallow and familiar references to investing in talent, technology, product introductions and design center improvements, but has not articulated a measurable plan to recapture demand. Revenue declines are the foreseeable consequence when a board fails to drive the strategy, innovation and reinvestment required to recapture demand and market share. I believe a significant portion of the incremental marketing and digital investment required to drive growth can be funded by reducing non-core costs and distractions, including the continued operation of a hotel.<\/p>\n \nRight now, Ethan Allen\u2019s business is behaving like a melting ice cube. And melting ice cubes eventually disappear. On last week’s earnings call, the CFO acknowledged that lower sales are driving fixed cost deleveraging and pressuring operating margins. If sales continue to decline, operating margins will continue to come under pressure and further threaten the earnings power that should support future reinvestment in brand, digital capabilities and stores. If allowed to continue for too long, the melting ice cube analogy becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. This reinforces the case for broad governance and leadership change now.<\/p>\n \nWhile revenue continues to shrink, market share has eroded and the Company remains behind in the digital, omnichannel and brand capabilities required to compete in today\u2019s highly fragmented and increasingly omnichannel home furnishings market. This is not simply a matter of spending more; it is a matter of execution. The current leadership continues to talk about technology, marketing, product introductions and design center improvements, but the results have not followed. Without change, I believe the gap between Ethan Allen and its peers7<\/sup> will only continue to widen \u2013 but it does not have to be this way. The Company has a choice: continue managing a shrinking business with the same leadership that has failed to produce growth or embrace the bold strategic and leadership changes needed to transform this iconic brand and recapture market share. Personally, I am energized by this opportunity. By prioritizing profitable growth, modernizing the customer experience and improving execution across brand, digital, stores and operations, we can revitalize Ethan Allen.<\/p>\n Ethan Allen Has Failed to Grow\u2026in a Growing Market<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n \nThe premium home furnishings sector is a growing market that includes luxury peers such as RH (NYSE: RH), Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (NYSE: WSM) and Arhaus (NASDAQ: ARHS) \u2013 brands that have continually reinvented themselves to meet the needs of changing customers and, in the process, built multibillion-dollar platforms. These peers have grown by reinvesting in brand, digital capabilities, elevated store experiences, customer acquisition and omnichannel execution \u2013 and by executing those investments with discipline, creativity and urgency. Ethan Allen has talked about similar priorities for years, but the results show the execution has not matched the rhetoric. The contrast is stark: Ethan Allen\u2019s annual revenue fell below $1 billion in 2008 and has since continued to decline, while peers have scaled by investing behind the very growth levers Ethan Allen has failed to execute.8<\/sup><\/p>\n
\nDoug Bergeron, a beneficial owner of 5.0% of the outstanding common stock of Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. (\u201cEthan Allen\u201d or the \u201cCompany\u201d) (NYSE: ETD), today announced that he, through his entity DGB Investment, Inc., has nominated six1<\/sup> highly qualified and experienced candidates for election to the Company\u2019s Board of Directors (the \u201cBoard\u201d) at the 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders (the \u201cAnnual Meeting\u201d). In conjunction with the nominations, Mr. Bergeron also released the following open letter to shareholders regarding the urgent need to revitalize Ethan Allen and reignite growth at the Company.<\/p>\n\n