Camping World, which describes itself as “America’s Recreation Dealer,” has released its most recent financial report, for its 3rd quarter, ending September 30. If recreation is for relief, CW needs a bit more recreation, as Camping World shows declines in a lot of critical areas.
Camping World shows declines particulars
- Revenue was $1.7 billion for the third quarter, a decrease of $126.1 million, or 6.8%.
- New vehicle revenue was $679.2 million for the third quarter, a decline of $154.9 million, or 18.6%; and new vehicle unit sales were 15,205 units, a decrease of 2,411 units, or 13.7%.
- Average selling price of new and used vehicles declined 5.7% and 5.2%, respectively, during the third quarter.
- Products, service and other revenue was $235.6 million for the third quarter, a decline of $33.3 million, or 12.4%.
- Gross profit was $523.1 million, a decrease of $70.6 million, or 11.9%. Total gross margin was 30.2%, a decrease of 175 basis points.
- Net income was $30.9 million, a decrease of $72.1 million, or 70.0%.
Still a bright spot, and more mixed bags
One bright spot for CW: Used vehicle revenue was a record $590.2 million for the third quarter, an increase of $64.2 million, or 12.2%; and used vehicle unit sales were a record 17,125 units, an increase of 2,665 units, or 18.4%.
In an effort to turn around some of the ugliness, since closing out its foul third quarter, CW “made the decision to consolidate or close seven underperforming dealership locations in order to redeploy working capital to higher returning investments.”
Not unexpectedly, Camping World management set out to “fire sale” 2022 and 2023 RVs still on its lots. Since the RV market has taken a major hit, manufacturers started wholesaling new 2024 rigs for less than the prices of those earlier two model years.
The Fed’s dealing with inflation has also gut-punched Camping World. Floor plan interest expense was $19.8 million, an increase of $10.3 million, or 108.9%; and regarding other interest expense, net was $35.2 million, an increase of $14.7 million, or 71.7%.
##RVT1129b
Take THAT Marcus!
Hope you get heartburn.
👍
Is it just me or does it seem like the more dollars you have the less sense you have? With all the money Marcus has you’d think he would build a better business plan to continue growing his business rather than closing parts of the business.
Not all businesses can flourish. Location, surrounding market, asking-price, are all reasons some businesses fail. Yes, CW purchased many existing dealers, but as the market cools, it is not surprising they are closing some of the under-performing locations.
They should vote like they did in 2020 again then things could get worse.
Camping World has gone from having a good reputation for RV repairs and service to one of the worst. We use to take our RVs to them for work back in the ‘old days’ because we knew the quality of work and service was good. Not any more. Yes there are still good ones out there but in general as a company they are not.
Now, so many complaints about their slow to fix warranty issues – if they even do it before the warranty runs out. CW went downhill when it went from serving the RV community to all campers, then started buying out dealerships to start selling RVs. Basically they lost their focus and way.
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Thirty years ago, or thereabout, we referred to Camping World as our toy store. It had nearly everything and in great variety. They even offered a parts catalog. It was a good place to browse and buy a good assortment supplies, parts and accessories and of RV-related books, and even a couple of magazines. The Good Sam camping directory was much larger than now with extensive listings of all campgrounds, including the Good Sam parks. That wonderful resource of old is now smaller and I now have to rely more on my phone to even find camping in a given area. A campground owner I spoke with before the pandemic mentioned that it was becoming too expensive to be a Good Sam park.