Winnebago Industries, Inc. said revenues for the second quarter ended Feb. 27, 2010 rose 247% to $110.5 million, versus $31.8 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2009.
The second quarter of fiscal 2010 was positively impacted by a significant increase in motor home unit deliveries, particularly in the Class A category, which resulted in an increase in production volumes and greater efficiencies and higher utilization of the manufacturing facilities.
“We are pleased to see a continued trend of sequential growth in revenues and gross profit,” said Winnebago Industries Chairman, CEO and President Bob Olson. “After hitting our lowest shipment levels in decades during the second quarter last year, we have seen improvement in revenues and gross profit each quarter since that time. We also saw a sequential increase in dealer inventory this past quarter for the first time in two years as we increased our production levels to satisfy our sales order backlog. While we are encouraged with these improvements, the economic outlook remains uncertain and we believe retail sales will be the key driver to sustain our recovery and for continued growth going forward.”
The surge in sales helped sharply reduce operating losses to $1.9 million for the quarter, versus $18.6 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2009. Net income for the second quarter was $706,000 versus a net loss of $10.4 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2009. On a diluted per share basis, the company had net income of 2 cents versus a net loss of 36 cents a year earlier.
Revenues for the first six months of fiscal 2010 were $191.5 million, an increase of 89%, versus revenues of $101.2 million for the first six months of fiscal 2009. The company reported an operating loss of $7.8 million for the first six months of fiscal 2010, versus an operating loss of $35.5 million for the first six months of fiscal 2009.
Net loss for the first six months of fiscal of 2010 was $638,000, or 2 cents per diluted share, versus an operating loss of $2.0 million, or 69 cents per diluted share for the first six months of the last fiscal year. The net loss for the first six months of fiscal 2010 reflected the positive impact of $4.9 million in tax benefits associated with additional fiscal year 2009 net operating loss carryback due to recent tax law changes and the additional $2.2 million of second quarter tax benefits associated with various tax planning initiatives and tax settlements; however, no tax benefits have been recorded on the first six months of fiscal 2010 pre-tax losses which are not immediately subject to refund.
At quarter’s end, the sales order backlog was 1,159 motor homesup 246.0% compared to the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2009.
According to Statistical Surveys, Inc., the retail reporting service for the RV industry, Winnebago Industries continues to lead the industry in retail sales of Class A and Class C motor homes combined with 19.2% percent for calendar 2009, compared to 18.3% for calendar 2008.
Cash and equivalents increased by $5.0 million in the first six months of fiscal 2010. A major component of this was the receipt of a federal tax refund of $21.9 million. As a result, cash and cash equivalents at the end of the quarter were $41.6 million.
Separately, the company filed today a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (the Registration Statement) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) to provide additional financial flexibility. If and when the Registration Statement is declared effective by the SEC, the company will have the ability to sell up to $35 million of its common stock in one or more offerings. Currently, there are no plans to use the registration statement; however the company believes that it will provide another source of liquidity in addition to the alternatives already in place.
