FYI Interesting insight into RV mfg business

[Joe Hogan]

Market Conditions Dent Winnebago’s Revenue, Income​

RV PRO Staff Send an emailJune 21, 2023
2 minutes read

Winnebago Industries marks the recent close in its third quarter of fiscal 2023 with a drop in both revenue and profits, as expected.
Revenues for fiscal Q3 were $900.8 million, a decrease of 38% compared to $1.5 billion for the same period in fiscal 2022, driven by lower unit sales related to RV retail market conditions and higher discounts and allowances compared to the prior year, partially offset by carryover price increases.
Fiscal 2023 Q3 net income was $59.1 million, a decrease of 49.6% compared to $117.2 million in the prior year quarter.
For shareholders, the adjusted earnings per diluted share was $2.13, a decrease of 48% compared to the $4.13 in the same period last year.
Happe
“In the midst of challenging market conditions, our team continues to successfully navigate a dynamic environment with a dual focus on taking care of our customers and operating the business with discipline, resulting in ongoing value for our shareholders,” said president and CEO Michael Happe. “Our diverse portfolio of premium brands across the outdoor recreation industry continues to drive resiliency in our consolidated results, as top-line declines in our RV segments were offset by robust profitability in towable RVs and continued growth in our marine businesses. The Barletta brand, in particular, remains a bright spot in our portfolio, delivering strong market share gains in aluminum pontoons.”
He went on to add: “During the quarter we also announced and closed the strategic vertical technology acquisition of Lithionics Battery, which will accelerate our innovation capabilities in diverse battery solutions, advance our overall electrical supply ecosystem and create opportunities for our RV and marine customers to enjoy fully immersive, off-the-grid outdoor experiences.
“I want to personally thank all of our Winnebago Industries team members for their hard work and determination during the quarter, and for continuing to reinforce and project our golden threads of quality, innovation, and service.”
Breaking the quarter down by unit type, revenues for towables were $384.1 million for the third quarter, down 52% compared to $805.6 million in the prior year. Motorhome revenues were $374.4 million for the third quarter, down 27.5% from the prior year. This was primarily driven by a decline in unit volume and higher discounts and allowances compared to prior year, partially offset by price increases related to higher chassis costs.”
Revenues for the Winnebago’s marine segment were $129.0 million for the third quarter, up 1.9% over the same quarter a year ago.
“Looking ahead, we will continue to actively manage production levels across our business to match dealer appetite for our brands, ongoing seasonal retail conditions, and our market share aspirations,” said Happe. “We are entering our fourth and final quarter of fiscal 2023 with a strong balance sheet, having completed multiple inorganic and organic investments in support of future growth strategies and a sequentially improved inventory and working capital position. We are closely tracking and adjusting to market conditions, with a focus on maintaining solid profitability, market competitiveness, and a preferred lot position for our premium brands with our channel partners.”

 

[Neal]

Certainly no surprise and my hunch is they'll think this is normal and not try to do anything about it. In time when they see it's not turning around maybe they'll take action to attract customers and offer aggressive discounts, rebates, etc. but time will tell. I haven't heard of any aggressive offers as of yet to earn anyone's business as it sounds like those that want will pay.

 

[Joe Hogan]

The comparisons to prior year are mostly meaningless as the demand in 2021 was an anomaly.
More useful would be a multi year trend analysis but with all the additional business acquired you end up with too many adjustments to make any sense of the data.
As you say, time will tell, we will see where this ends up.

 

[Rich W.]

It seems obvious that the end of covid based travel restrictions (and hence the temporary RV craze) combined with an increase in interest rates and inflation are creating a market down-turn. I think the only thing that will bring a meaningful decrease in pricing is a lot of unsold inventory and that also remains to be seen.

Last year it was still a seller’s market. This year the “decline in unit volume and higher discounts and allowances compared to prior year” look to me to be a trend toward what we all considered “normal” pre-covid. But even a discount of 30% off MSRP (which remains to be seen) would be mostly negated by the inflated base prices.

I spent a lot of time thinking about trading up over the last couple years, but with current pricing, I think I’ll just ride it out in the little Ventana for a few more years. Interest rates aren’t a factor for me but I’m certain they are a heavy influence on the market as well and manufacturers can’t do much about that.