In the News

Hovnanian Reports $236 Million Profit in its First Fiscal Quarter of 2010
Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:00:00 PST

New Jersey-based Homebuilder Hovnanian Enterprises reported after-tax net income of $236.2 million, compared with a net loss of $178.4 million in the first quarter of the previous year. As a result of tax legislation changes, the after-tax net income included a federal income tax benefit of $291.3 million.

Total revenues were $319.6 million for the first three months of fiscal 2010 compared with $373.8 million in the same quarter a year ago. The company delivered 1,091 homes for the quarter.

The company said net contracts per active selling community increased 31% to 5.1 net contracts per active selling community in the first quarter of fiscal 2010 from 3.9 in last year's first quarter. However, primarily due to a 27% decrease in active selling communities, the number of net contracts for the first quarter of fiscal 2010, excluding unconsolidated joint ventures, decreased 5% to 912 homes compared with the same quarter a year ago.

"The first quarter saw the typical seasonal home buying patterns that we would expect," commented Ara K. Hovnanian, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Traffic and net contracts dropped off around the Thanksgiving holiday, and we began to see a pickup in traffic and net contracts during the last half of January and into February. In the first quarter, we continued to see a couple of positive year-over-year comparisons, including an increase in gross margins and an increase in net contracts per active selling community."

"We are pleased to see the market for new land deals begin to thaw out a bit and we continue to diligently pursue new land opportunities where we can make normalized returns based on today's home prices and sales absorption levels. Adhering to sound land underwriting assumptions will reduce risk and prove beneficial to our future financial performance," Mr. Hovnanian continued.

"It is encouraging that we have been able to continue to report improving margins and year-over-year increases in sales absorption rates. Although we remain cautiously optimistic, several headwinds such as persistently high unemployment levels, the expiration of the federal homebuyers tax credit and the threat of more foreclosures continue to hinder a sustainable recovery in the housing market," concluded Mr. Hovnanian.

KB Home to Offer Pre-Wiring Option for Electric Vehicle Charging Station
Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:00:00 PST

LOS ANGELES -- KB Home announced that it will begin offering an option to pre-wire its new Built to Order™ homes to accommodate charging stations for homeowners' electric vehicles. This new earth-friendly option is designed to ease the future installation of a station to charge an electric or plug-in hybrid vehicle conveniently at home. The pre-wire option is now available to KB Home homebuyers nationwide.

"KB Home is building new homes that are relevant to the way homebuyers are living – now and in the future," said Jeffrey Mezger, president and chief executive officer of KB Home. "This is just one of many innovative and earth-friendly options that homeowners can choose from as part of KB Home's Built to Order experience. It's a great feature for homebuyers who currently drive electric cars, or for those who want to build their new home to accommodate these cars in the future."

The Rocky Mountain Institute, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to drive the efficient and restorative use of resources, recently launched Project Get Ready, a program that aims to help communities prepare for and support plug-in vehicles.

"It is critical for the mass adoption of electric vehicles to have companies like KB Home leading the industry by offering this pre-wire option, as the majority of electric vehicle charging will be done at home overnight," said Matt Mattila, Project Manager for Project Get Ready. "Not only is it convenient, but when managed correctly, charging overnight, at home, will put less strain on the grid than opportunity day-time charging at public charging stations."

KB Home is continually surveying the market to better understand what homebuyers are looking for in a home. Based on this process, the homebuilder has been proactive in incorporating energy-efficient and earth-friendly features that save buyers money, including building all new home communities to strict ENERGY STAR® guidelines.

KB Home's Built to Order approach also makes it possible for homebuyers to incorporate even more earth-friendly products into their new homes. At the KB Home Studio, the Company is working to educate buyers about ways they can further lower their energy bills and reduce their consumption of natural resources by choosing options from the Company's My Home. My Earth.® program.

Visit them online at kbhome.com

Orleans Homebuilders Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:00:00 PST

BENSALEM, PA -- Orleans Homebuilders, Inc. announced last week that it filed voluntary petitions under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code for itself and most of its operating subsidiaries in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in Wilmington. Certain of the Company's subsidiaries are excluded from these voluntary petitions, including its mortgage services subsidiary, Alambry Funding, Inc., which provides mortgage brokerage services for customers and financial institutions but which does not underwrite any customer mortgages.

The company said the filing was triggered when it could not come to terms on renegotiating a $350 million loan with its creditors, which became due February 12, 2010.

This week, the Court gave interim approval for up to $26 million of the Company's previously announced $40 million debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing line, including up to $11 million of cash funding and up to $15 million of letters of credit.  The Company intends to use the proceeds of the financing for, among other things, its ordinary course business expenses.

The Court approved the Company's motions to pay prepetition employee wage and benefit charges, as well as motions to maintain the Company's existing cash management systems and to use its cash collateral.  In addition, the Court approved the Company's motions for the continuation of the Mortgage Plus Program and home warranty programs, and approved payment of prepetition amounts owed to homeowners' and condo associations.  Finally, the Court approved a motion to honor prepetition claims for certain critical vendors, among other items.

Orleans is providing information about the reorganization at www.orleanshomesreorg.com

ProBuild to Open New Locations in Utah and Virginia
Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:00:00 PST

DENVER, CO -- ProBuild Holdings Inc., the nation's largest professional building materials supplier, today announced it is opening two new locations, one in Orem, Utah and one in Winchester, Virginia

 

"We continue to see opportunities where we can expand into new markets to better serve our customers," said ProBuild Senior Vice President of Corporate Development Michael Mahre.  "These new locations are great instances where we can bring the market-leading value of ProBuild's products and services to serve strong and growing markets."

The Orem location, which will begin with nine employees, is ProBuild's fourth in the state of Utah, joining Heber City, Midvale (Salt Lake City) and Ogden.  The Orem facility will service lumber and millwork customers and opens with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Chain of Custody Certification that enables Orem to sell FSC-certified material. The Virginia location, formerly a location operated by Glaize Components, will extend ProBuild's capabilities to serve the Washington, D.C./Baltimore markets. Winchester will manufacturer components including roof trusses, floor trusses and wall panels. The 18-acre site will also feature a full-service lumberyard.

"We see great potential in these markets," said ProBuild Northeast President Russ Kathrein. "With the addition of Winchester, we will be able to better meet the growing needs of our customers with our complete line of products and services."

About ProBuild

ProBuild Holdings is the nation's largest supplier of building materials to professional contractors. ProBuild currently operates more than 470 lumber and building product distribution, manufacturing and assembly centers serving 42 U.S. states.  ProBuild sells a broad selection of building materials including lumber and plywood, engineered wood, gypsum wallboard and other drywall products, millwork, trusses, roofing, siding products, tools, insulation materials, and metal and hardware specialties. The company's manufacturing activities include trusses, wall panels, millwork, and pre-hung door and window fabrication.  ProBuild's construction services include the installation of framing, millwork, insulation and other products.  To learn more about ProBuild, visit their website at www.probuild.com

11 Year-Old Boy Selected to Implode Texas Stadium
Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:00:00 PST

A sixth grader in Texas has earned the "honor" of pushing the button that will implode the old Texas Stadium structure, former home to the Dallas Cowboys. The boy submitted the winning essay in a contest:

Read more at the Dallas News