Fleetwood announced on February 1st, 2007, preliminary revenues for the fiscal third quarter and first nine months ended January 28, 2007.

You can read the full press release here, but the following are some key aspects, particularly about their RV business::

• Recreational vehicle sales for the third quarter were off 12 percent to approximately $320 million compared with $365 million a year ago.
• The decline was primarily due to a 51 percent drop in travel trailer sales to $82 million compared to last year's sales of $169 million, which included $72 million of trailers built to FEMA specifications for disaster relief. 
• Sales of motor homes increased 24 percent to $224 million and folding trailers were down 9 percent to $14 million. Comparable non-FEMA revenues for the RV Group were up 9 percent.

"The significant increase in motor home sales is very encouraging," Fleetwood's President and CEO Elden L. Smith said. "The growth reflects a change in mix to more diesel units, as well as higher overall unit sales. Travel trailer revenues were down 16 percent ex-FEMA, which is partially due to the increased demand last year for conventional travel trailers to meet temporary shelter needs created by the hurricanes as well as lower industry demand this year, but also indicates that we have further work to do relative to the competitiveness of some of our travel trailer product lines. We have been watching the early spring RV retail shows closely. While results are mixed, it does appear that motor home consumers are more willing to purchase this year due to lower fuel costs and more stable interest rates. We have been pleased with the response to our product lines in most categories, including our low- to mid-priced Class A gas and our Class A diesel motor homes. Travel trailer sales are also improved in some segments, including high-end fifth-wheels and our toy hauler series."

"We are cautiously optimistic about the spring selling season," Smith continued. "It has the potential to reverse the nearly two years of negative trends in motor home sales, as customers seem to be more comfortable with the market environment and our motor home products are being well accepted. Overall, dealers indicate that their motor home inventories are at about the right level, or even somewhat low, which, with increased demand, could also benefit sales. On the other hand, we expect that industry travel trailer sales will continue to lag throughout the spring against difficult year-over-year comparisons and higher dealer inventories. 

"The third quarter results, which will be announced on March 8, 2007, are expected to show a significantly greater net loss than the second quarter, commensurate with the lower revenues," Smith concluded. "We expect the fourth quarter to begin to reflect the changes that have been made at Fleetwood during our restructuring. Our products are improved, our cost structure is lower, our plants are producing more efficiently and, perhaps most importantly, all of our divisions are more customer-focused. Our optimism is tempered by the ongoing uncertainty in all of our markets, which, so far, has slowed our turnaround progress."

You can read the full press release here
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RV sales down but motorhome sales up?
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