Industry Update-Brunswick Profits Sicks 29%!!!!

Here is an article stating that Brunswick, I think the US largest Boat Manufacturer and engine producer, had a bad quarter. Not a big surprise but news worthy. It's not just the housing bubble that burst.

Brunswick profit sinks 29%

Tribune staff, wire reports
July 27, 2007

Brunswick Corp. on Thursday reported a sharp drop in second-quarter earnings as higher interest rates and rising gasoline costs continued to cut into demand for its recreational boats and engines.

The Lake Forest-based company, which signaled its weak report last week, said net income tumbled 29 percent, to $59.3 million, or 65 cents a diluted share, from $83.2 million, or 87 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue slipped 1.3 percent, to $1.52 billion.

"We are pleased with our second-quarter results given the increasingly difficult economic environment in which consumers are deferring expenditures for large-ticket discretionary items" such as pleasure boats, said Chairman and Chief Executive Dustan McCoy.

Brunswick shares fell last week after the nation's biggest boatmaker, citing "anemic" retail demand for boats and engines, lowered its full-year 2007 earnings guidance to $1.20 to $1.35 a share, from the previous range of $1.65 to $2.00 a share. At the time, it indicated that second-quarter earnings would be in the range of 64 or 65 cents a share.

Shares of Brunswick lost 92 cents, to $28.54, on the New York Stock Exchange.