RV Maker Posts Loss

Fleetwood Enterprises Inc., a maker of manufactured housing and recreational vehicles, posted a $29.6-million fiscal first-quarter loss Thursday, but the company said it expected to see increased sales for emergency housing in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The news helped boost Fleetwood’s stock by 4%.

“We are sure that the need for emergency housing units will be great,” said Chief Executive Elden Smith in a conference call with analysts. The expected sales to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies, he said, “will undoubtedly improve our revenue and earnings from our earlier expectations.”

Last year, Riverside-based Fleetwood provided about half of the emergency housing purchased by FEMA after four hurricanes hit Florida, and has been asked by the agency again for price quotes on its products, Smith said.

But with no firm FEMA orders, the company declined to make specific forecasts for the rest of the year. However, Fleetwood’s sales have increased from the private sector because of the hurricane.

“We are starting to see some [housing] orders for corporations that are trying to get up and running,” said Executive Vice President Christopher Braun.

Fleetwood’s shares rose 43 cents to $10.94.

In the quarter that ended July 31, Fleetwood’s 53-cent-a-share loss contrasted with a profit of $5.6 million, or 11 cents, a year earlier.

As part of a restructuring, the company sold most of its retail manufacturing outlets and its finance unit to concentrate on sales of campers, motor homes and manufactured housing. During the quarter, Fleetwood posted a $12.1-million loss from discontinued operations.

Revenue fell 6.5% to $616.5 million, partly because of soft RV sales.

Analyst Ivan Feinseth, with Matrix USA in New York, doesn’t expect RV sales to pick up anytime soon. “With gas costing $3 a gallon, it’s cheaper to fly to a lot of places than drive in an RV,” he said.

Feinseth cautioned that although manufactured home companies would probably see increased sales, prefab homes have been slow industrywide because low interest rates have made site-built homes more affordable.