Fleetwood Sales Fall 6%, Led by Housing

Mobile home and recreational vehicle maker Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. said that fiscal fourth-quarter sales fell 6% as a result of a weak market for manufactured housing. Riverside-based Fleetwood said sales for its fiscal fourth quarter ended April 30 dipped to $891 million from $948 million a year earlier. The decline was led by a 13% falloff in manufactured housing sales. “Manufactured housing industry wholesale shipments in the first three months of calendar year 2000 are off nearly 22% due to excessive inventories at the retail level,” Fleetwood President Nelson Potter said in a statement. The company will report full results next month. Recreational vehicle sales also were down slightly as a result of a softness in mobile home revenue, which is expected to continue. In its fiscal fourth quarter a year ago, Fleetwood posted net income of $24.5 million, or 66 cents a share. Fleetwood shares fell 6 cents to close at $14.38 on the NYSE.