Quarterly earnings are down for Winnebago Industries due to a slowing demand across the motor home industry. The Forest City-based R-V maker reports a profit of 13-point-2 million dollars in its third quarter, down from 17-point-6 million a year ago. Company President Bruce Hertzke says he’s still happy with the way the quarter turned out.
Hertzke says with the economy and gas prices, the numbers are down but he’s still very pleased. Hertzke says despite the downturn in the last year, the company is still on track for its third-best year ever after record earnings the last two years. That’s out of a 48-year history and he says they hold firm that the market will come back as there are always ups and downs.
Plus, he says they’re still turning a profit, even during the downturns. Hertzke says sales of the larger “Class A” style motor homes have weakened over the last year, but there’s been an increase in demand for the smaller “Class C” style motor homes. He says the bigger-dollar products are down but the company is doing well with its smaller, new, more fuel-efficient product lines. Sales totaled over 220-million dollars, a drop of more than 13-percent from a year ago.