LOW Lowes Companies Inc

By Tess Stynes 

Lumber Liquidators Holdings, Inc. said Chief Executive John M. Presley is resigning and named the flooring retailer's chief operating officer, Dennis R. Knowles, as his successor.

Mr. Knowles, 52 years old, who has been Lumber Liquidators' operating chief since March, also will retain that title. His previous experience included a number of positions starting in 2001 at Lowe's Cos., most recently as the home-improvement retailer's chief store operations officer.

Mr. Presley, who joined the company as its CEO one year ago, had been a member of Lumber Liquidators' board since April 2006, and served as chairman from May 2015 until last November.

The company has continued to feel the pains of an investigation into the formaldehyde levels in its Chinese-made laminate flooring begun in 2015. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission ruled Lumber Liquidators didn't need a full recall of made-in-China laminate flooring that it sold, since no air-quality tests found formaldehyde levels above the regulation guideline. However, the fallout has dragged the company's results, as Lumber Liquidators agreed to stop selling the laminate wood flooring.

The company in February said Mr. Presley was diagnosed with a "very treatable form" of leukemia. A person familiar with the matter said Monday that Mr. Presley's shift from the CEO role wasn't health-related.

Last month Lumber Liquidators reported an unexpected increase in quarterly sales and stronger margins, but higher expenses -- including those related to legal woes -- continued to weigh on the company's bottom line.

Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 07, 2016 18:36 ET (23:36 GMT)

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