<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Fleetwood Reports 16% Decline in 4Q Revenue
RV Business
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. reported a 16% drop in sales for its fiscal 2007 fourth quarter, as its recreational vehicle and manufactured housing segments incurred double-digit revenue declines.
In its preliminary report, the Riverside, Calif.-based builder said sales during the quarter, ended April 29, fell to $505 million from $603 million a year ago. On a segment basis, quarterly sales for the RV Group declined 12% to $379 million while the Housing Group's revenues dropped 25% to $117 million.
For the full fiscal year, sales were off 18% to $2 billion from $2.43 billion last year, with recreational vehicles 11% lower and manufactured housing down 35%.
The company noted that hurricane-related sales in fiscal 2006 totaled $33 million for the quarter and $222 million for the full year.
Fleetwood said the decline in the fourth-quarter RV sales reflects difficult market conditions that particularly impacted both travel trailers and folding trailers.
"The beginning of the spring selling season in the RV industry has been softer than we had expected," said Elden Smith, Fleetwood's president and CEO.
Travel trailer revenues fell 49% to $81 million, folding trailer revenues were down by 13% to $20 million while motorhome sales increased by 12% to $278 million.
For the full fiscal year, sales of recreational vehicles totaled $1.44 billion, down from $1.61 billion in the prior year. Motorhome sales declined 2% to $962 million, travel trailer sales were off 30% to $389 million and folding trailers increased 5% to $88 million.
Smith said the company was taking "additional steps" to reduce travel trailer manufacturing capacity. On Wednesday (May 2) it informed workers that it would close Canadian operations in Lindsay, Ontario, and was shutting down its plant in Campbellsville, Ky. Both facilities were involved in travel trailer production.
Smith also warned of a net loss in the fourth quarter, but added the company was "optimistic" heading into the first quarter of fiscal 2008.
"Despite lower-than-anticipated revenues and considerable restructuring charges related to five plant closures, we are reaffirming the expectation expressed in our third quarter results release that we will sustain a significant operating loss in the fourth quarter, although we anticipate it will be less than the third quarter loss," Smith concluded. "We continue to work toward consistent profitability, although the headwinds in both of our industries during the past two years have caused some delays in realizing our goals. While the first quarter will still be impacted by some of these factors, particularly in the travel trailer division, we expect the company to report year-over-year improvement in revenues and operating results." </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Fleetwood Closes Plants in Canada, Kentucky
RV Business
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Representing the latest in a succession of towable plant closures, Riverside, Calif.-based Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. told workers today (May 2) that it would be ceasing its Fleetwood Canada operations in Lindsay, Ontario, while also shuttering its plant in Campbellsville, Ky.
The Campbellsville facility, which employed 130 people, closed immediately. Fleetwood said that its Canadian operations would shut down on July 25, affecting 315 workers. Just weeks ago, Fleetwood said it would retain Fleetwood Canada after laying off 100 people and consolidating two plants in Lindsay.
"We will try to place people within the company, but for the most part we won't be able to do that because most of them won't want to move," said Kathy Munson, investor relations director.
Both operations are involved in travel trailer production, a sector which Fleetwood has lost considerable market share in recent years. Lindsay built all models sold in Canada, including the Prowler, Terry, Lynx, Dakota, Mallard and Pioneer lines. The Campbellsville plant produced the Pioneer and Mallard.
The moves come around two months after Fleetwood announced three other plant closings. On March 5, the company said it would shut down travel trailer facilities in Williamsport, Md., and Longview, Texas, with 564 employees between them, and Rialto, Calif., which had 429 workers.
In a March 8 conference call with investors, Fleetwood said it would be opening a plant in Mexicali, Mexico, for trailer production, which ramped up the week of April 15. The company emphasized that the decision had been in the planning stage for two years and was unrelated to the closings.
With the latest cutbacks, Fleetwood has pared down its travel trailer operations to five facilities in Pendleton and La Grande, Ore., along with factories in Crawfordsville, Ind., Edgerton, Ohio and Mexicali.
"The plan is to have each plant make very specific products so that we can have labor efficiencies and improve quality and warranty experiences as well," Munson said. "We will be shipping product from the States to Canada."
She added, "The Pioneer and Mallard products will be moved to our La Grande plant, which will ship to the northern United States. Mexicali will produce those products for the southern half of the country."
Munson noted that in 2001, Fleetwood operated 11 towable factories and employed around 21,000 employees. Today, the company's work force is under 10,000. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
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