Elkhart-based Coachmen Industries reports 3Q 2009 loss, gains new financing

Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly

Elkhart-based Coachmen Industries, as expected, reported a third-quarter net loss, but the company also announced it had secured financing that will enable it to accept two new housing projects.
   
The company, a maker of manufactured housing and specialty vehicles, reported a $3.9-million net loss during the third quarter, according to a company statement. The result was better than the $14.5-million loss reported during the 2008 third quarter.
   
Coachmen had net income of $1.2 million through nine months this year, up from a $16.1 million net loss during the same period last year.
   
Net sales during the quarter, $16.1 million, were about half of what the company reported during last year's third quarter, $31.6 million.
   
The company warned on Monday that it would report a third-quarter loss. President and CEO Richard Lavers reiterated in a statement released Wednesday that sales have not indicated any evidence of the predicted housing market rebound.
   
The Coachmen specialty vehicle group, which sells its Spirit of Mobility buses, reported an overall loss. But the bus portion of the group reported a profit, the first time that has happened in a full quarter, according to the statement.
   
Coachmen also announced Wednesday it secured a $20 million in financing. The company will use $10 million as a revolving credit line, and another $10 million will be convertible debt funded at the deal's closing, according to a separate company statement.
   
Lavers said in the statement the financing will reduce the collateralization requirements on bonds the company needs to operate. He said it will allow Coachmen to accept an $8.1-million housing project at Fort Bliss, Texas, and a separate dormitory project.
   
The new financing also is expected to free millions in cash that is pledged to support several letters of credit, according to the statement.
   
An affiliate of Miami-based H.I.G. Capital provided the new financing.
   
Coachmen also announced it will sell its closed facility in Zanesville, Ohio, for $2.9 million. The buyer was not disclosed.