J. M. Peters Reports $80-Million Loss After Downgrading Assets $75 Million

J.M. Peters Co. said it lost nearly $80 million for its latest quarter after slashing the value of its assets by $75 million.

The home-building company said it adjusted the value of its land holdings to reflect the steep declines of the past two years.

For its second fiscal quarter, which ended Aug. 31, J.M. Peters reported a loss of $79.3 million, or $5.67 a share, compared to a loss of $12.1 million, or 87 cents a share, for the same period a year earlier. Revenue was $37.5 million, down 26% from $50.5 million.

The company logged $16.3 million in revenue from the sale of 45 homes during the quarter, down from $28.1 million from the sale of 82 homes in its same period a year earlier. It also reported $21.2 million in revenue from the sale of land, down slightly from $21.6 million.

The write-down of assets decreased the value of the company’s holdings by nearly 41%, to $110 million from $185 million, President James M. Peters said.

The reduced value reflects the market value of land still in the company’s inventory as well as the actual price of parcels sold as part of Capital Pacific Homes’ August acquisition of a controlling interest in the publicly traded company. Both companies are based in Newport Beach.

Excluding the write-down, J.M. Peters Co. would have lost just $4.3 million for the latest quarter. Peters said the apparent improvement, however, was largely because the company eliminated most marketing costs and interest on borrowings as its business nearly halted while it negotiated the Capital Pacific deal.

For the first six months of its fiscal year, J.M. Peters Co. posted a loss of $81.6 million, or $5.83 a share, compared to a loss of $15.6 million, or $1.11 a share, for the same period a year earlier.