Champion Enterprises, Inc. First Quarter Outlook Positive
NEW YORK, March 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Champion Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: CHB - news), the nation's leading manufactured housing company, announced today that sales and earnings for the quarter ending April 3, 1999 are expected to reach record first quarter highs. At a meeting in New York City, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Walter R. Young, told analysts that the company is comfortable with first quarter analysts' consensus estimates. According to First Call, these estimates range from $0.39 to $0.41 per share.
Young added, ''Champion's manufacturing and retail operations continue to experience solid year-to-year improvements. Excluding Homes of Merit acquired in early January of this year, our year-to-date wholesale home shipments are about 10 percent higher than a year ago. Overall, our retail operations continue to see strong traffic and sales volume around the country.''
''We are extremely pleased with the continuing productivity gains of our manufacturing operations and the performance of our retail organization. In 1999 Champion plans to open three new manufacturing facilities and rebuild the New York plant. The company is also expanding manufacturing operations in areas where demand for our homes exceeds current capacity. Our U.S. market share is now about 19.4 percent including Homes of Merit. We are also continuing to expand and grow our retail organization, and are well on our way to reaching $1 billion in retail sales by the year 2000. We remain committed to our long-term goal of a minimum 15 percent compound annual growth in earnings per share,'' he added. |
