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September 12, 2007
Forest City earnings jump
Crain's Cleveland Business
Forest City's chief executive comments on the company's fist-half performance and its future prospects:
Charles A. Ratner, Forest City president and CEO, said fundamentals in the company’s rental properties business remain strong and newly opened properties are performing at or above expectations. However, he said the housing slump affecting its residential land development business, which primarily provides land for homebuilders, “has been broader and deeper than expected” and the company expects continued softening in the sector.
For example, revenues in its land development group fell 46%, to $14.6 million from $27.1 million in the year-ago quarter. Mr. Rather said the company believes its residential land holdings in growth markets such as Arizona, the Carolinas, Florida and Texas position it well for the long term.
Mr. Ratner said changes in the real estate environment, from stricter underwriting requirements by lenders to the housing market’s weakness, “make it difficult to clarify how EBDT will perform in the short term, but we remain confident that we will continue to build shareholder value this year and into the future.”
Posted by lumi at September 12, 2007 7:37 AM