SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
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FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15 (d) OF THE
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): January 29, 2004
FLEETWOOD ENTERPRISES, INC.
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(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)
Delaware 1-07699 95-1948322
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(State or Other (Commission File (IRS Employer
Jurisdiction of Number) Identification
Incorporation) Number)
3125 Myers Street, Riverside, California 92503-5527
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(Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)
Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (909) 351-3500
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N/A
(Former Name or Former Address, if Changed Since Last Report)
Item 12. Results of Operations and Financial Condition.
On January 29, 2004, Fleetwood Enterprises, Inc. (the
"Company") issued a news release reporting the preliminary
sales results of the Company for its third fiscal quarter ended
January 25, 2004. A copy of the news release is attached to
this Current Report as Exhibit 99.1.
The information in this Current Report, including the
exhibit attached hereto, is being furnished and shall not be
deemed "filed" for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or otherwise subject to the
liabilities of such section. The information in this Current
Report shall not be incorporated by reference into any
registration statement or other document pursuant to the
Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
Exhibit List.
Exhibit Number Title
99.1 Press release of Fleetwood Enterprises, Inc.
dated January 29, 2004.
SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act
of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this current report to be
signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
FLEETWOOD ENTERPRISES, INC.
Date: February 2, 2004 By: /s/ Boyd R. Plowman
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Boyd R. Plowman
Executive Vice President-
Chief Financial Officer
Exhibit 99.1
FLEETWOOD REPORTS PRELIMINARY REVENUES FOR THE
THIRD QUARTER AND FIRST NINE MONTHS OF FISCAL YEAR 2004
Riverside, Calif., January 29, 2004 - Fleetwood Enterprises, Inc.
(NYSE:FLE), the nation's leader in recreational vehicle sales and
a leading producer and retailer of manufactured housing, today
announced preliminary sales for the third quarter and first nine
months of fiscal 2004, ended January 25, 2004.
Company revenues rose 21 percent in the third quarter to
approximately $596 million compared with $493 million in the
same quarter last year. Sales for the RV Group increased 32
percent, while sales for the Housing Group rose 2 percent
overall due to a 14 percent increase in the retail division,
offset somewhat by a 5 percent decline in the manufacturing
division. For the first nine months, sales improved overall by
10 percent, with recreational vehicles up 20 percent and
manufactured housing declining 7 percent.
Recreational vehicle sales for the third quarter rose to $409
million compared with $310 million a year ago. Motor home
revenues improved by 28 percent from the prior year to $272
million and travel trailer sales were up 61 percent to $114
million, while folding trailer sales decreased 13 percent to $23
million.
Sales of recreational vehicles for the first nine months of
fiscal year 2004 totaled $1.3 billion, a 20 percent improvement
over the prior year. Motor home sales were up 19 percent to $803
million, and travel trailers increased 34 percent to $416
million. Folding trailer sales fell 19 percent to $77 million.
"The encouraging increase in third quarter RV revenues versus
last year reflects our commitment to enhancing product
development and dealer relationships, along with the positive
industry growth in motor homes and travel trailers," Fleetwood's
President and CEO Edward B. Caudill said. "We believe the
positive momentum we have established in revenues and market
share will show up on the bottom line in the near future. Motor
home operating margins have shown steady improvement and are
nearing satisfactory levels, while at the same time, we continue
to focus on generating improvement in travel trailer margins. We
are also optimistic that as consumer confidence rises, folding
trailer sales will break their recent trend of declining sales."
Quarterly sales of manufactured housing increased over the same
period of the prior year for the first time in 17 quarters to
approximately $176 million, a 2 percent improvement compared with
$173 million a year ago. Housing revenues include wholesale
factory sales of $109 million to independent retailers and retail
sales of $67 million from Company-operated sales centers.
Wholesale revenues weakened 5 percent from $115 million, while
retail sales climbed 14 percent from $59 million last year. Gross
manufactured housing revenue declined 1 percent to approximately
$143 million, including intercompany sales of $34 million to
Company-operated retail stores.
Manufactured housing sales for the first nine months of fiscal
2004 were down 7 percent from the prior year to $591 million,
including wholesale factory sales of $397 million to independent
retailers and retail sales of $194 million from Fleetwood's
retail operations. Gross manufactured housing revenue for the
first nine months was down 7 percent to $494 million, including
intercompany sales of $97 million to Company-operated retail
stores.
"It is tremendously satisfying to report an increase in revenues
for any part of our Housing Group while the manufactured housing
industry continues to battle this challenging financing
environment," Caudill said. "It has been reported that calendar
year 2003 was the lowest shipment level in over 40 years and,
while final numbers are not in, we believe the industry has
finally hit bottom at approximately 131,000 units. So a revenue
increase at Fleetwood Retail Corp. (FRC) is truly a victory. As
we have said, improved sales are vital to move FRC toward
breakeven. Although the revenue increase is a step in the right
direction, much work remains before FRC reaches sustained
profitability. We believe that our relatively new financing arm,
HomeOne Credit Corp., and the new management at FRC, which has
placed a strong emphasis on building an enhanced sales culture,
have caused the retail division to turn this crucial corner. We
were also excited to see that our manufacturing operations
reported a much lower decrease during these three months than
the rest of the industry has seen.
"Although this quarter will show a significant improvement over
last year in results as well as revenues, the Company continues
to project a quarterly loss," Caudill concluded. "The third
quarter is historically difficult for Fleetwood, and a few items
exacerbated the situation. For instance, industry-wide shortages
of several key components caused production delays throughout
the RV Group, resulting in additional overtime and shipping
charges. Although all sold units were shipped, our third quarter
results were negatively affected and the situation may extend
into the fourth quarter."
The Company confirmed its intent to pay, in cash, the
distributions due in mid-February on the Company's 9.5% preferred
securities and to continue to defer distributions on its 6%
preferred securities.
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements
and information based on the beliefs of Fleetwood's management as
well as assumptions made by, and information currently available
to, Fleetwood's management. Such statements reflect the current
views of Fleetwood with respect to future events and are subject
to certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, including risk
factors identified in Fleetwood's 10-K and other SEC filings.
These risk factors include, without limitation, the cyclical
nature of both the manufactured housing and recreational vehicle
industries; ongoing weakness in the manufactured housing market;
the potential impact on demand for our products as a result of
changes in consumer confidence levels; continued acceptance of
the Company's products; expenses and uncertainties associated
with the introduction and manufacturing of new products; the
availability of manufactured housing wholesale and retail
financing in the future; changes in retail inventory levels in
the manufactured housing and recreational vehicle industries;
competitive pricing pressures; the ability to attract and retain
quality dealers, executive officers and other personnel; and the
ability to obtain the financing we need in order to execute our
business strategy. Actual results, events and performance may
differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as
of the date hereof. Fleetwood undertakes no obligation to release
publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking
statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances
after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of
unanticipated events.
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