Thor Industries wrapped up its most profitable year in history, the company reported Tuesday. The company backed up earlier reports about dealer inventory restocking potentially lasting into 2023. Thor noted inflation pressures and Type B motorhome successes in fiscal 2021.
“These outstanding results are a testament to our team’s ability to successfully accelerate production over the course of the fiscal year to meet surging market demand while continuing to maintain quality, navigating continuing supply chain challenges, managing labor constraints and ensuring the safety of our workforce,” Thor President and CEO Bob Martin said.
Fiscal 2021 net sales totaled $12.32 billion, up 50.8% from 2020, with profits totaling $659.9 million, up 196% from 2020.
Fourth-quarter net sales totaled $3.59 billion, up 54.7% from the fiscal fourth quarter of 2020. Profits totaled $230.3 million, up 93.2% from the fourth quarter of 2020. Sales and profits in the quarter and year set records for Thor.
In a question-and-answer document accompanying the earnings release, Thor said its record $16.9 billion backlog continues to grow.
“Once current consumer demand reaches equilibrium with wholesale shipments, dealers will begin to replenish their lot stock inventory to more normalized levels, which should decrease our backlog,” Thor stated. “We expect this restocking will take a number of quarters to fully achieve and may extend into calendar 2023.”
The comments back up a recent Thompson Research Group dealer survey’s findings.
Thor also noted inflation impacts on production pricing, saying pressures result from higher commodity prices, transportation costs, supply-chain constraints and labor costs.
“We have instituted wholesale price adjustments when necessary to mitigate some of these cost pressures, and we have the ability to implement additional increases in the future,” Thor stated. “We also seek to offset these cost pressures through other actions, such as instituting operational efficiencies, to avoid relying solely on wholesale price increases. There can be a lag in timing between cost increases and our ability to offset the increases, but we expect to be price-cost neutral over time.”
Finally, Thor said its strong Type B motorhome performance reflected part of the company’s strategic plan to make inroads in the market’s fastest-growing segment.
“During the year, we significantly expanded our Class B product offerings and added production capacity, which has resulted in significant year-over-year retail market share gains,” Thor stated. “As a result of our actions, our Class B market share grew to 25.9% in the first half of calendar year ended June 30, 2021, from 12.4% in the first half of calendar year 2020.”
Martin said Thor was carrying “great momentum” into fiscal 2022, supported by continuing demand and record backlogs.
“Dealers remain confident in the long-term outlook for the RV industry and continue to invest in growing their businesses as the industry sees continued buying interest from both the first-time and repeat RV buyers,” Martin said. “Entering our 2022 fiscal year, we continue to operate in an uncertain time. The rise, fall and rise again of reported COVID-19 cases around the world, supply chain shortages which change almost weekly and a very tight labor market across the country, especially in northern Indiana where most of our production facilities are located. While we expect these factors will continue to present challenges in fiscal 2022, our positive long-term outlook for the RV industry and THOR Industries remains unchanged.”
