Global Value Investment Corp reaches agreement with Hooker Furnishings Corporation (HOFT)

Market Cap: $102 million| Hooker Furnishings Corporation designs, manufactures, imports, and markets residential household, hospitality, and contract furniture products. 

On June 5, 2025, Jeff Geygan, founder of Global Value Investment Corp and holder of 5.1% of Hooker Furnishings, criticized the company’s prolonged underperformance, citing a 53.2% stock decline since GVIC’s 2020 investment and sharp deterioration in financial metrics. He attributed the decline to poor strategic decisions, failed acquisitions, flawed warehousing, and a costly ERP rollout. Geygan also flagged the board’s lack of meaningful equity ownership and accountability, particularly targeting Chairman Beeler’s 32-year tenure with minimal stock ownership. After two years of unsuccessful private engagement, GVIC plans to seek governance rights and may nominate directors ahead of the next annual meeting. Source

On November 6, 2025, Global Value Investment Corp delivered to the Board a letter criticizing the company’s poor financial and stock performance, citing a 33.8% revenue decline, negative operating margins, and a 43.7% share price drop over three years. GVIC blamed the board for missteps including the costly Home Meridian acquisition, failed channel strategy, and ERP overspending, arguing these reflected weak governance and poor oversight. It also condemned the board’s minimal share ownership—particularly Chairman W. Christopher Beeler’s negligible open-market purchases over decades—as evidence of poor alignment with shareholders. Despite prior meetings with management to advocate for operational and strategic reform, GVIC said the board has resisted meaningful engagement and called for a reevaluation of board composition to restore accountability and shareholder value.

On January 1, 2026, the company entered into a Cooperation Agreement with Global Value Investment Corp to jointly appoint an independent director within 45 days, expand the Board from eight to nine members, place the new director on all committees, and include the nominee on the Board’s slate for the 2026 and 2027 annual meetings, with at least one current director not standing for re-election in 2026. In exchange, Global Value Investment Corp agreed to vote with the Board’s recommendations (subject to limited exceptions) and to customary standstill and non-disparagement provisions, including a 9.9% ownership cap, until the standstill termination date tied to the 2027–2028 annual meeting timeline.