Fleetwood RV business struggles

One of Australia’s biggest caravan manufacturers, Fleetwood Corporation, has partly blamed “a shift in buyer preference towards lower specification budget vehicles” for reduced sales within its Recreational Vehicles division for the 2012-13 financial year.

In a report listed on the ASX, Fleetwood’s RV business, which includes Windsor and Coromal caravans, Camec accessories and Flexiglass canopies, recorded annual revenue of $111.4.7 million (down 16 per cent).

That resulted in a loss of $4.7 million for the RV business, although it didn’t include the $6 million cost of shutting down the Melbourne-based Windsor factory in late-2012.

Fleetwood, which also supplies housing for the struggling resources sector, reported overall income of $333.9m (down 13 per cent), with profit before interest and tax down 69 per cent to $24.5 million.

Sales of Coromal and Windsor caravans have been in freefall since 2008-09, when the West Australia-based manufacturer was forced to cut its RV production by half following the effects of the Global Financial Crisis.

To help recapture market share and reduce costs, a recent restructure of Fleetwood’s RV division included moving all caravan production to its factory in Western Australia, and sourcing more products from Asia including a new, lower-cost Chinese camper trailer (pictured)  introduced earlier this year.

Describing the full year results as “very disappointing”, Fleetwood also said RV production had reached “below break-even levels”. The Camec RV accessories business was also hit hard as the “market weakened further”.

Fleetwood said its expectations for its RV division remain “subdued” although it said it had a strong order book for caravans and Asian sourced campers.