Profit Plunges for State’s Top Home Builder

Home builder Kaufman & Broad Home Corp., clobbered by the soft California housing market, reported earnings of $3.2 million, or 11 cents a share, for the fourth quarter ended Nov. 30, off $30.3 million, or 88 cents a share, from the year-ago quarter.

The largest builder of single-family homes in California had revenue of $375.2 million, off from the $530.2 million of a year ago.

The firm said the declines reflected the “continued deterioration” of the state’s housing market, where banks have tightened lending requirements for developers and the resale housing market is expected to fall 15% this year.

For fiscal 1990, Kaufman & Broad earned $39.9 million, or $1.25 a share, off from a record $81.4 million, or $2.44 a share, in fiscal 1989.

Revenue was $1.37 billion, up from $1.27 billion. The increase reflected an increase in the company’s commercial development--all of it in France--to $362 million in fiscal 1990 from $231 million in fiscal 1989.

“The French real estate markets have demonstrated remarkable resiliency this past year in the face of worldwide economic uncertainty, “ said Bruce Karatz, president and chief executive. “Our substantial growth in earnings from this market could not have come at a better time.”

The Los Angeles firm’s residential backlog at the end of fiscal 1990 was $188 million, off from $249 million at the end of fiscal 1989.