Another industry seems to be lost in America -- recreational vehicle makers.
Already, three RV manufacturers have filed for Chapter 11 in 2009:
- Junction City, Ore.-based Country Coach LLC (Feb. 6),
- Coburg, Ore.-based Monaco Coach Corp. (March 6) and, most recently,
- Riverside, Calif.-based Fleetwood Enterprises Inc.
(March 10), which cited soft demand because of high fuel prices.
Other
RV makers were already in bankruptcy before this trio. Perris,
Calif.-based National RV Holdings Inc., which filed Nov. 30, 2007, exited on Dec. 16. Beadry RV Co., an RV dealership, filed on Nov. 18.
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Fleetwood Enterprise's Chapter 11 filing shouldn't come as a shock. The company had previously made Moody's Investors Service's recently launched "Bottom Rung"
-- a list of the lowest-rated U.S. nonfinancial speculative-grade
companies. The list of 283 companies (up from 157 a year ago)
represents those that are at risk of defaulting on their loan covenants
in 2009. Companies on the doomed list have earned ratings of either a
Caa1, B3 with a negative rating outlook or B3 with a rating under
review for downgrade.
Meanwhile, there seems to be only one of two
ways for a company to have its name crossed of the list: a bump in its
rating score to at least a B2 (a good thing), or defaulting on its debt
(not so good). So far, 14 of the 24 companies that made it off the list
have filed for Chapter 11.
After the media, automotive and retail
industries, the manufacturing sector (which is what Fleetwood is
classified under) is the fourth-largest sector represented on Moody's
list, which currently tracks 19 industries. - Carolyn Okomo
Comments
There are many other RV companies that are doing very well. Let the poorly managed ones fall by the wayside and the better ones thrive. We have a fifth-wheel manufactured by Fleetwood. Their customer service department was not very cooperative.