Near-Record Sales Drives Thor Profit

Thor relocated its headquarters to Elkhart County in 2013.

Elkhart-based Thor Industries Inc. (NYSE: THO) is reporting fiscal second quarter net income of $79.8 million, up from $64.8 million during the same period last year. Chief Executive Officer Bob Martin says the recreational vehicle manufacturer achieved its third-highest sales level of any quarter in its history, in what it calls a historically low-volume quarter.

Marin says Thor continued to experience a tight labor market in the northern Indiana region during the quarter. The company also experienced some inflationary price increases in certain raw material and commodity-based components, which it was able to manage through various actions.

During the fiscal second quarter, Thor also announced a 50/50 joint venture with New Zealand-based Tourism Holdings Ltd. The venture, for which Thor is making an initial $50 million investment, closed earlier this month.

"Our second quarter results reflect another period of exceptional growth of both sales and earnings,” said Martin. "We leveraged the combined strength in industry demand and share gains to drive increased profitability across both segments of our business through a combination of increased output from recently added production capacity, enhanced scheduling and optimization of production runs at our existing facilities, as well as various initiatives implemented across the Company over the last year to improve operating efficiencies."

The earnings results follows a record fiscal first quarter for Thor. You can connect to the full second quarter results by clicking here.