Builder WCI Reports Q1 Results

First Quarter Financial Highlights:

  * Net loss: $15.8 million  * Basic and diluted EPS: loss of $0.38  * Revenues: $340.6 million - down 40.3%  * Net new orders: 237 - down 41.0%  * Backlog at March 31, 2007: $790.7 million  * Net cash provided by operating activities: $102.4 million

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla., May 8, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- WCI Communities, Inc. (NYSE:WCI), a leading builder of traditional and tower residences in highly amenitized lifestyle communities, today reported its results for the first quarter of 2007. For the three months ended March 31, 2007, WCI reported a net loss of $15.8 million, compared with net income of $40.2 million in the first quarter of 2006, while diluted earnings per share (EPS) declined to a loss of $0.38 versus income of $0.89 in the same period a year ago. Revenues for the first quarter of 2007 were $340.6 million, compared with $570.7 million for the first quarter of 2006, a 40.3% decrease. The aggregate number of net unit orders for the quarter declined 41.0% to 237 while the aggregate net value of Traditional and Tower Homebuilding orders for the quarter fell 53.4% over the same period a year ago to $156.1 million.

"Lower margins in our Traditional and Tower Divisions as well as fewer home closings during the quarter resulted in a net loss for the first quarter," said Jerry Starkey, President and CEO of WCI Communities. "While cancellations of traditional home orders receded during the quarter to historical levels of around 20%, tower defaults in some buildings have been higher than our prior estimates. Because of this, we have increased our tower default reserve to cover an approximate 15% default rate for towers closing in 2007, even though our actual experience associated with 14 towers completed in 2006, including units closing in early 2007, resulted in a 6.1% default rate for sold units in those buildings. Due to the number of units in buildings now closing and market conditions, it is taking a longer period of time to close many of the tower units than it has historically, but based upon the contract holders' actions, statements and other factors, the revised default reserve represents our best estimate of the ultimate outcome at this time."

Starkey continued, "Our peak selling season in Florida this year was a disappointment, even though we did experience a sequential increase in new orders in the first quarter of 2007 compared to the fourth quarter of 2006, and saw significant improvement in our Traditional Homebuilding cancellation rates. Our Mid-Atlantic Division fared better than our other operations, experiencing substantially better net order comparisons and a cancellation percentage rate of around 10%.

"We continue to emphasize maximizing cash flow and reducing overhead and product costs. In the first quarter, we achieved a reduction in average home cost of about $6,300, thereby reaching a cumulative reduction of approximately $22,000 per home since the beginning of 2006. This is good progress towards our goal of saving $42,000 per home by the end of 2007. These average savings per house benefit our cost structure on homes to be built during 2007 and thereafter but do not benefit completed homes that are unsold or in backlog. We also continue to expect to realize approximately $1 billion of cash flow from operations, generated primarily from the collection of tower receivables. Proceeds from land and recreational amenity sales are expected to contribute to cash flow and make up any variance from our previous estimates of tower receivable collections and cash flow. While we did not have any land or recreational amenity sales in the first quarter, we closed the cash sale of a $47.5 million recreational facility in April of this year."

Traditional Homebuilding