The St. Joe Company Reports Second Quarter 2005 Net Income of $0.50 Per Share
biz.yahoo.com
Tuesday July 26, 7:06 am ET
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 26, 2005--The St. Joe Company (NYSE:JOE):
Net Income Per Share Increases 67 Percent Over Last Year's Second Quarter
JOE Raises 2005 Full-Year Guidance 2005 Earnings per Share Now Expected to Range from $1.80 to $1.95
JOE Residential Land-Use Entitlements in Hand or in Process Increases to Approximately 35,000 Units
JOE Completes New $250 Million Revolving Credit Facility; Prices $150 Million Senior Notes
The St. Joe Company (NYSE:JOE - News) today announced that its Net Income for the second quarter of 2005 was $37.9 million, or $0.50 per share, compared with $22.7 million, or $0.30 per share, for the second quarter of 2004. All per-share references in this release are presented on a diluted basis.
Net Income for the first half of 2005 was $53.3 million, or $0.70 per share, compared with $35.7 million, or $0.46 per share, for the first half of 2004.
"JOE turned in another excellent quarter," said Peter S. Rummell, chairman and CEO of JOE. "We are very pleased with our performance over the first half of the year. JOE business units achieved solid performances, and JOE's Florida real estate markets continued to show strength in pricing as well as sales velocity.
"Prices were strong with firm demand across all JOE real estate product lines during the second quarter," said Rummell. "Traffic at our sales centers remained high. We continue to see increasing interest in Northwest Florida from outside our traditional feeder markets, with an increasing number of customers coming to us from greater distances. While re-sale supply may be increasing somewhat as prices climb, our market is also broadening. We like our position - and Florida's prospects - both in the short- and long-term.
"Most importantly, we continued to execute well against our long-term strategic plan to create shareholder value," said Rummell. "In the second quarter, our residential land-use entitlements pipeline, consisting of entitlements in hand or in process, less units sold or under contract, increased to almost 35,000 units. This growing pipeline is a result of our on-going planning processes. Located primarily in Northwest Florida, the additional units also represent a wide range of potential products, markets and price points.
"Our new land-use entitlements represent real value in a broad spectrum of products," said Rummell. "They reflect the ongoing success of our land-planning process. We seek entitlements that allow JOE to meet demand in all its forms, including resort residential, primary residential, retail, office, industrial and new rural land products. And we continue to think creatively and analytically about our land and our customers in an effort to develop new products to meet needs in as many market segments as possible.
"Our ability to gain entitlements is especially important when you consider the potential demand driven by demographics," said Rummell. "Last quarter we talked about the U.S. Census Bureau's strong growth projections for Florida. To put it in perspective, the Census Bureau projected that the population of Florida will increase by approximately 80 percent, or 12 million people, over the next 25 years. That's the equivalent of having the population of the entire state of Pennsylvania move to Florida.
"When you compare this potential demand with the limited supply of developable coastal land available in Florida and the challenge of getting entitlements in this state, you begin to understand the value of our inventory of entitlements," said Rummell. "We believe that the two biggest challenges facing the homebuilding industry today are the constrained supply of developable land and the increasingly challenging entitlements process.
"At JOE, we are in a terrific position to address and benefit from these challenges," said Rummell. "We have an extraordinary supply of high-quality, low-basis developable land - and we have a demonstrated expertise in getting land entitled in Florida." |
