Fleetwood announced on May 3, 2007, preliminary sales for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended April 29, 2007

You can read the full press release here, but the following are some key aspects of their announcement of travel trailer plant closures:

• The 12 percent decline in the fourth quarter recreational vehicle sales reflects difficult market conditions that particularly impacted both travel trailers and folding trailers. Travel trailer revenues fell 49 percent to $81 million, or by 35 percent excluding last year's FEMA sales of $33 million. Folding trailer revenues were down by 13 percent to $20 million. Backlogs for both towable divisions continue to be down significantly from last year

• "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 chief executive officer

• "The fourth-quarter decline in our folding trailer sales was also slightly better than industry shipment trends, but the reverse is true in travel trailers," Smith continued

• "We have taken additional steps to reduce our travel trailer manufacturing capacity. Yesterday, we notified our associates of the impending closure of our Canadian travel trailer manufacturing facility in Lindsay, Ontario, and the immediate closure of our facility in Campbellsville, Kentucky"

• "Previous moves to rationalize production allow us to produce a simplified array of products in our remaining five plants, with each specializing in a specific market segment. We are also producing fewer floor plans, which will further improve efficiencies and reduce costs. These actions will put additional short-term pressure on our national market share, but we believe that this manufacturing footprint will enable us to compete more effectively in important geographic and market segments."

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