8/5/2026

speaker
Erica
Conference Coordinator

Good morning and welcome to the Champion Homes first quarter fiscal 2020 earnings call. My name is Erica and I will be coordinating your call today. A question and answer session will follow the formal remarks. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Ellen Kaleniecki, Director of Investor Relations. Ellen, please go ahead.

speaker
Ellen Kaleniecki
Director of Investor Relations

Good morning. Thank you for joining us for today's conference call and review of Champion Homes results for the first quarter ended June 27, 2026. Here to review the results are Tim Larson, CEO, and Dave McKinstray, CFO. Yesterday, after the market closed, Champion Homes issued its earnings release. As a reminder, the earnings release and statements made during today's call include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the company's expectations. Such risks and uncertainties include the factors set forth in the earnings release and in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Please note that today's remarks contain non-GAAP financial measures, which we believe can be useful in evaluating performance. Definitions and reconciliations of these measures can be found in the earnings release. I will now turn the call over to Tim Larson.

speaker
Tim Larson
Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Ellen, and good morning, everyone. The Champion Homes team delivered a solid start to fiscal 2027, with results that aligned with our expectations. We continue to outperform the broader industry, demonstrating the strength of our customer-centric strategy and the team's operational execution. The recent closing of the Homes Direct acquisition marks an important milestone in advancing our direct-to-consumer strategy. The transaction closed on August 1st, and we are honored to formally welcome the Homes Direct team to Champion. While the financial impact in the second quarter will be limited due to timing, We remain excited about the strategic opportunities that we are already seeing as we work with the Homes Direct team. This acquisition reflects how we are allocating our capital to enhance and accelerate our strategic priorities. Across our channels, product portfolio, and operational scale, Champion remains uniquely positioned to help address the need for affordable housing. We remain focused on producing high-quality homes that provide compelling value when compared to traditional site-built alternatives. We will achieve this by advancing a differentiated, customer-centric strategy that supports long-term growth and value creation. Let's turn to our quarterly results. The quarter unfolded largely as we anticipated, and we are pleased with the consistency and execution demonstrated by our team in a dynamic economic environment. Net sales increased 1.3% year-over-year to $710.2 million. Manufacturing capacity utilization during the quarter was 62%, up from 59% sequentially, and up one percentage point compared to the same period last year. As a reminder, our utilization reporting includes our six idled facilities. Champ and again outperformed the broader industry. Our U.S. home sales were up 1.8% versus the same period last year. This performance is against the backdrop of declining HUD industry shipments, which were down year-over-year approximately 5% during the three-month period ending May 2026. The demand environment was very encouraging for us in the first quarter. Manufacturing orders increased year-over-year, resulting in an increase in backlogs to 421.8 million versus 302 million at the end of the first quarter last year. Manufacturing backlog lead time ended the quarter at approximately nine weeks, which is within our target range of four to 12 weeks. We continue to manage production responsibly and balance customer demand with market conditions. From a channel perspective, we achieved solid results across our portfolio, reinforcing the resiliency of our diversified go-to-market model. Sales to our independent retail channel were up 4% year over year. We continue to invest in tools and capabilities to support our independent dealers' businesses, including lead management capabilities via our dealer portal, Consumer Digital Engagement Initiatives, and being nimble with our product offerings. We believe these important investments position both Champion and our dealer network for long-term success. Our captive retail channel continued to perform well. Captive retail represented approximately 35% of consolidated sales during the quarter, compared to 34% in the prior year period. Execution across our retail network remained strong. As we leverage our investments across our now 95 captive retail stores, including 11 Homes Direct stores in the western United States. It's worth noting that our first quarter results do not include Homes Direct, which as I mentioned closed August 1st. Community orders were up modestly this quarter. Community operators continually carefully manage inventory levels and monitor consumer demand. Orders from some of the larger operators were drivers during the first quarter, and we are encouraged by community customer engagement trends. Builder-developer sales increased year-over-year, with momentum accelerating in this channel. During the recent quarter, our off-site construction event in York, Nebraska, attracted more than 150 attendees and showcased the interest in modular HUD housing solutions. Developers, builders, municipalities, and housing advocates from across the nation attended the event. This reflects the growing interest and demand for affordable and timely home construction solutions. Our joint venture with Triad Champion Financing continued to perform well in the quarter. As we reported on our last call, the ECN transaction closed successfully in our first quarter and generated proceeds of approximately 189.1 million Canadian dollars. a portion of which we have reinvested in the Homes Direct Transaction. Turning to the regulatory developments, we are pleased with the continued momentum of policies that expand affordable housing. The 21st Century Road to Housing Act recently passed both chambers of Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support, becoming law on July 10th. While implementation will take time and the HUD room-making process is ongoing, We believe the legislation represents a meaningful step toward expanding housing opportunities and removing barriers to factory-built housing adoption. Our teams remain actively engaged with HUD and other stakeholders as technical specifications and implementation details continue to evolve. As you would expect, in addition to the HUD rulemaking, there will be new engineering, transport, and set considerations for HUD homes that are not built on a permanent chassis. Our teams are excited to implement this change while also remaining focused on our traditional HUD product that is built on a permanent chassis. We envision over time that both types of construction will be utilized throughout the industry. Additionally, Champion will once again return to the National Mall for HUD's Innovative Housing Showcase in September. The showcase and legislation demonstrate that federal housing leaders are increasingly supportive of manufactured homes as a central solution to the housing affordability crisis. We continue to monitor zoning reform at the state and local level as well. The Commonwealth of Virginia, for example, recently enacted legislation that allows manufactured housing placement in residential districts where site-built homes are permitted. This represents additional momentum towards the long-term acceptance of off-site-built in parity with site-built. We believe the continued incremental regulatory progress leads to a favorable long-term outlook for our industry. As we've moved through the opening weeks of the second quarter, our observations remain consistent with the themes we've discussed today. The macro environment remains dynamic, and consumers continue to face broad affordability pressures. However, demand for attainable housing remains strong, and our team continues to execute our strategy with excellence. We are encouraged by the customer engagement trends and the opportunities we are seeing across our channels. We believe Champion is better positioned than ever to help address the housing affordability challenge with best-in-class products designed for the specific customers and markets we serve, supported by diversified channels, and a highly engaged team. Our balance sheet remains exceptionally strong, providing flexibility to invest in growth opportunities, pursue disciplined capital allocation, and continue creating long-term shareholder value. With that, I'll turn the call over to Dave.

Disclaimer

This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.

-

-