Despite a dramatic slowdown in RV manufacturing in its fiscal second quarter, Thor Industries reported a quarterly profit of $27.1 million.
By comparison, the manufacturer reported a quarterly profit of $266.6 million in the fiscal second quarter of 2022 and $132.5 million in the fiscal second quarter of 2021.
Thor Industries President and CEO Bob Martin said the company’s disciplined approach to manufacturing results in 25,372 second-quarter North American wholesale RV shipments.
“Despite a significant slowdown of both sales and production, we expect the successful execution of our aggressive, proactive actions and our variable cost model to position our operating companies and independent dealer partners favorably heading into the second half of our fiscal 2023,” Martin said, “which typically experiences stronger retail activity than our second quarter.”
Thor said the company expects the second half of the fiscal year will see RV wholesale shipments increase but prudently.
“We will continue to prudently manage our wholesale production levels with a high level of conservatism as we look to sustain production levels lower than demand levels during this period,” the company said, “in line with historical dealer destocking trends during the latter part of the second half of our fiscal year.”
The company said North American dealer inventory levels remained essentially flat during the fiscal second quarter, despite the lowest quarterly RV wholesale shipment levels in multiple years. Thor said inventory went from 122,300 RVs on Oct. 31, 2022, to 121,300 RVs on Jan. 31.
“The contrast in this metric to previous slow quarters reveals the value of our heightened focus on aligning production with retail sales,” the company said. “As of Jan. 31, 2023, we believe North American dealer inventory levels for most of our towable products are slightly higher than dealers’ desired levels given current retail sales levels, inflation, rising interest rates and other associated carrying costs while dealer inventory levels for our motorized product lines are generally more closely aligned to dealers’ desired stocking levels as of the end of January 2023.”
Thor said the company remains confident it will help dealers optimize their inventory mix and levels to align with current consumer demand during the second half of its fiscal year.
