Schuler Homes’ The new Schuler Homes Inc., formed by the April 3 combination the Hawaii company with California-based Western Pacific Housing, today reported a profit of $34.5 million for the three months ended March 31.
earnings jump
29.7 percent
The results take into account
By Russ Lynch
the company's acquisition of
California-based Western Pacific
Star-Bulletin
The results, from the company's fourth quarter, are a 29.7 percent increase over the $26.6 million earned in the equivalent quarter of last year. Per-share income in the latest three months was 81 cents, up 26.6 percent from a year-earlier 64 cents. Total revenues in Hawaii and on the mainland rose 17.2 percent to $488.4 million, from $416.7 million in the January to March quarter last year.
Although the merger with what had been the privately held Western Pacific Housing did not take place until after the end of the quarter, Schuler reported the numbers for the combined companies, not only for the latest quarter but in the year-earlier period as well.
That is called "pro forma" reporting and is used for fair year-over-year comparisons when companies merge.
"Our integration efforts related to our merger have been well under way for some time, which enabled us to immediately begin operating as one company," said a joint statement issued by James K. Schuler, president, CEO and co-chairman, and Eugene Rosenfeld, who came from Western Pacific Housing to be co-chairman of the combined businesses.
They said that they expect combined earnings for fiscal 2002 to be 10 percent above those for the year that ended March 31, 2001, based on current market conditions and the anticipated timing of approvals, land development and construction.
Schuler's stock, which had jumped 53.7 percent over the previous nine trading days, closed down $1 today at $16.06.
For the past full financial year, the company reported a profit of $80.6 million, up 51.5 percent from a profit of $53.2 million in the previous year and equal to $1.93 a share, up from a year-earlier $1.32.
Annual revenues of $1.34 billion were up 20.7 percent from $1.11 billion in fiscal 2000.
The merger of Schuler, a leading Hawaii home builder that already has a significant presence in the Western states, with Western Pacific, California's sixth-largest home builder, was an all-stock deal valued at about $234 million.
It created one of the top 15 home builders in the nation, with operations in Oregon, California, Washington, Hawaii, Colorado and Arizona. The merger about doubled Schuler Homes' size.
The company today also reported separate figures for Schuler Residential Inc., which was the original Schuler Homes before the merger and now is a subsidiary of the new Schuler Homes.
Schuler Residential had a fourth-quarter net income of $10.2 million, up 4.8 percent from a profit of $9.7 million in the year-earlier quarter. Its revenues in the latest quarter, $145.3 million, were down 9.6 percent from revenues of $160.7 million in the year-earlier quarter, with 624 new-home sales closed in the latest quarter compared to 781 in the year-earlier period.
Schuler Homes as a whole closed sales of 1,594 new homes in the latest quarter, up 2.6 percent from 1,553 in the equivalent quarter of last year. The combined companies ended March with a backlog of 1,725 homes sold but not yet delivered, up 13.5 percent from a backlog of 1,520 at the end of the previous March and worth a total of $455.7 million, up 17 percent from a backlog value of $389.4 million a year earlier.
In Hawaii, Schuler ended March with a backlog of 145 homes, worth $43 million, up from a backlog of 87 units, worth $21.6 million at the same time last year.
The company said it closed sales of 79 homes in Hawaii in the latest quarter, down from 94 in the year-earlier period.