Date: Fri, 21 Nov 1997 02:06:56 GMT Server: CommerceServer400/1.0 Content-Length: 5607 Content-Type: text/html Last-Modified: Tue, 08 Jul 1997 13:41:07 GMT
Coachmen Industries, Inc. |
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It is a pleasure to report record results to you for both the year and fourth quarter just ended. These results are especially gratifying since they were achieved in a year when there was essentially no growthin sales for the recreational vehicle industry as a whole.
Sales for the year ended December 31, 1996 were $606,474,128, a new all-time record for the Company, and a 17.6% increase over 1995's sales of $515,862,065. Net income was a record $29,630,813, an increase of 69% over the $17,549,400 earned in 1995.
Earnings per share for 1996 were $1.94 compared with last year's earnings per share of $1.18. Net income for 1996 included a one time gain of $2,293,893, or 15 cents per share resulting from the cumulative effect of an accounting change for Company-owned life insurance policies.
Despite being hampered by severe winter weather in a substantial portion of the country, fourth quarter sales still set a record for any fourth quarter. Fourth quarter sales increased 9.6% and were $136,874,816 as compared with 1995's fourth quarter sales of $124,925,621. Net income for the fourth quarter was a record $6,361,571, and a 16.7% increase over the $5,450,424 reported for the fourth quarter of 1995. Earnings per share in the fourth quarter were 40 cents compared with last year's 37 cents.
The recreational vehicle group achieved an 18% sales increase for the year despite a negligible increase for the overall recreational vehicle industry of .2%. This group has continued gaining market share in 1996 much as it has done for the past several years. We see no fundamental reason for this not to continue and have opened an additional travel trailer plant in Goshen, Indiana to ensure that we will have the capacity to meet the demand expected in 1997. The new Indiana plant is in addition to the previously announced Oregon plant that we opened in March of 1996. The Oregon plant has exceeded our expectations in terms of production and earnings.
The housing group also continues to gain market share and had a sales increase of 19%. To ensure the capability of growth in this group we doubled the capacity of our North Carolina division by building a new "state of the art" plant which was completed this past December. We are also planning to increase capacity at existing plants by increasing the number of shifts the production lines are operating.
The parts and supply group had a sales increase of 13%. The plastics division, which provides the majority of sales for this group, is experiencing sound growth. It produces many types of plastic parts primarily for the producers of van conversions. Since we have nearly saturated the van conversion market with this division's products, we are currently investigating other markets for this division's outstanding capability in plastic parts.
On November 14, we successfully completed a public offering of 2,070,000 shares of common stock at a price of $24.50 per share. Net proceeds from the offering were $48 million. We plan to utilize this money to fund the growth of our working capital needs, to provide for plant and equipment expenditures and for making potential acquisitions of compatible businesses. We welcome the new shareholders who have joined the ownership of the Company as a result of this public offering.
Looking forward, it appears that we can expect a reasonably good environment in which to operate. The economy is forecast to grow at a 2% to 3% rate, interest rates are at reasonable levels and consumer confidence is at high levels. We also expect to benefit from the Baby Boom Generation, which is starting to move into the prime RV buying ages of 50 to 74. This demographic trend bodes well for our long-term future. We will do our best to capitalize on these favorable circumstances.
We would like to thank all of our shareholders for your continued confidence in our Company and all of our dealers, customers, suppliers and employees for your support.
January 27, 1997
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Thomas H. Corson (on left) |
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