UPDATE 1-Herman Miller Q1 profit slumps 75 pct

* Q1 EPS $0.14 vs $0.60 a year ago * Net sales fall 32 pct

* Shares down 2 pct after the bell

Sept 16 (Reuters) - Office-furniture maker Herman Miller Inc (MLHR.O) posted a 75 percent drop in quarterly profit, weighed down by a decline in orders.

For the first quarter ended Aug. 29, net income was $8.4 million, or 14 cents a share, compared with $33.4 million, or 60 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company, which recently acquired healthcare furnisher Nemschoff Inc, earned 22 cents a share.

Net sales slumped 32 percent to $324 million. Consolidated orders for the quarter declined 40 percent to $322.1 million.

Three analysts on average were expecting earnings of 19 cents a share, before special items, on revenue of $325.9 million, according to Reuters Estimates.

Shares of the Zeeland, Michigan-based company, which competes with Knoll Inc (KNL.N), Steelcase Inc (SCS.N) and HNI Corp (HNI.N), fell 2 percent to $18.74 in trading after the bell. They closed at $19.15 Wednesday on Nasdaq. (Reporting by Divya Sharma in Bangalore; Editing by Deepak Kannan)