Michael Happe.
Winnebago Industries CEO Michael Happe says his company and the outdoor lifestyle industry as a whole continue to see record interest in outdoor participation as the calendar year 2020 progresses.
The Forest City-based company this morning reported fiscal fourth-quarter profits of $42.5 million dollars and fiscal year profits of $61.4. “While the acute impact of this year’s third quarter impeded our ability to deliver full-year financial performance reflective of the momentum we had generated in the first half of the year, the underlying fundamentals of the business remain strong,” Happe says, “driven by ongoing and tremendous consumer and dealer demand, which has returned in full force, evidenced by our significant fourth-quarter results.”
Happe says expanding the company’s portfolio in the last fiscal year allowed the company to gain market share behind its four premium brands of Winnebago, Grand Design RV, Chris-Craft, and the newly-acquired Newmar. “We successfully completed the acquisition of the Newmar luxury RV business in November 2019, which added yet another outstanding brand to our Winnebago Industries family, and furthered our progress to restore leadership in the motorhome RV segment through their ever-increasing market share in the Class A motorized category,” Happe says.
Happe credits the company leaders with handling and getting through a shutdown early in the COVID-19 pandemic while still strengthening the company’s solid financial position in the face of uncertainty. “While much of our operations were suspended for six weeks in the spring of 2020, we wasted no time reimagining our daily operating processes to ensure a safe return to the full operating status in May,” according to Happe, “which allowed us to react appropriately to begin meeting increased and soon to be record levels of consumer demand in the summer of 2020.”
Winnebago’s stock price has increased 35 percent in the last 12 months and has risen about eight percent in the calendar year 2020.
(By Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City)
