Hovnanian Reports Fiscal 2007 Third Quarter Results

RED BANK, N.J., Sept. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc.(NYSE:HOV), a leading national homebuilder, reported a net loss of $80.5 million, after tax, or $1.27 per common share for the third quarter ended July 31, 2007. For the nine-month period ended July 31, 2007, revenues declined 22.6% to $3.4 billion, from $4.4 billion in the year earlier period. The Company reported a net loss of $168.5 million for the first nine months of 2007, or $2.67 per common share, compared to net income of $256.8 million, or $3.95 per fully diluted common share, in the same period a year ago.

For the nine month period, the Company incurred a total of $184.4 million of pretax charges related to land impairments and write-offs of predevelopment costs and land deposits, and $55.1 million of charges related to the impairment of intangibles.

Homebuilding gross margin, before interest expense included in cost of sales, was 15.9% for the third quarter of fiscal 2007, compared with 23.4% in the prior year's third quarter. The Company's pretax income from Financial Services in the third quarter of fiscal 2007 declined 19.3% over the same period in 2006, to $6.1 million.

The Company had 449 active selling communities on July 31, 2007, excluding unconsolidated joint ventures, compared with 436 active communities at the end of the same period last year. The Company's contract cancellation rate, excluding unconsolidated joint ventures, for the third quarter of fiscal 2007 was 35%, compared with the rate of 33% reported in the third quarter of 2006, and a rate of 32% for the second quarter of fiscal 2007.

Comments From Management

"Conditions in most of our markets remain challenging," commented Ara K. Hovnanian, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company. "Credit tightening in the mortgage market has reduced the number of qualified home buyers, existing home inventory levels remain persistently high in many of our markets and buyer psychology has been negatively impacted by a steady stream of news related to falling housing prices, foreclosure rates, and mortgage availability. In light of these negative influences, our sales pace fell further in many of our communities, and we reacted by offering further price concessions and incentives. This created additional downward pressure on profit margins and led to additional land-related charges in the quarter."

"Overall negative sentiment toward the purchase of a new home continues to weigh on our net contract results," Mr. Hovnanian said. "Since the end of our third quarter, the tightening of lending standards in the mortgage market has extended beyond the sub prime market and is now impacting jumbo mortgages and further tightening of Alt-A loan underwriting standards. This is leading to a further reduction in the universe of qualified buyers for our homes. However, our mortgage operation continues to close a significant volume of mortgages on a daily basis for our homebuyers, and these loans are continuing to be placed with our regular base of investors, which are some of the world's largest financial institutions."

"While the housing market is definitely in a slump, we are still selling homes," Mr. Hovnanian said. "Despite difficult conditions, we sold 2,539 homes in the quarter and delivered 3,179 quality homes with a sales value in excess of $1 billion. We remain vigilant in running the day-to-day business, while adhering to our long term strategies. However, inventory reduction and cash flow are our foremost priorities. Our objective is to generate cash and pay down our debt to levels in line with our current volume of activity in our communities," Mr. Hovnanian stated.