IMPACT OF RECENT ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS
See note titled Recent Accounting Standards in the Notes of the Consolidated Financial Statements for a description of recent accounting pronouncements, including the expected dates of adoption and expected effects on results of operations and financial condition, if known.
SEASONALITY
Marine Products’ quarterly operating results are affected by weather and general economic conditions. Quarterly operating results for the second quarter have historically recorded the highest sales volume for the year because this corresponds with the highest retail sales volume period. For similar reasons, quarterly operating results for the fourth quarter often record the lowest sales volume for the year. The results for any quarter are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected in any future period.
INFLATION
New boat buyers typically finance their purchases. The Company believes that the recent increase in interest rates (which is generally linked to higher inflation) has reduced retail demand for smaller boats, since purchasers of smaller boats are typically more sensitive to increases in the cost of boat ownership and typically finance their purchases. Higher interest rates also impact our dealers, as their boat purchases are financed and they bear much of the carrying costs of holding inventories. Lastly, the Company incurs higher costs from rising interest rates because we often pay a portion of dealer floor plan interest costs.
During 2021 and 2022, inflation in the general economy had increased to its highest level in more than 40 years due to economic growth following the COVID-19 pandemic, labor shortages, supply chain constraints, and U.S. fiscal policy. As a result, the market prices of the raw materials and components used by the Company’s manufacturing processes increased during these periods. In response to historically high consumer demand as well as higher raw materials and components costs, the Company increased the prices for its products. During 2023, prices of many raw materials used in the Company’s manufacturing processes began to decline, and transportation became more available and less expensive, thus easing the Company’s cost pressures. However, the Company believes the cost of boat ownership has risen enough to impact retail demand. Therefore, it may be more difficult to raise prices in the future to compensate for increased costs of raw materials and components, which could impact the Company’s sales and profit margins.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Certain statements made in this report that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words “may,” “should,” “will,” “expect,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “seek,” “project,” “estimate,” and similar expressions used in this document that do not relate to historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements may include, without limitation: our attempts to optimize financial returns by closely monitoring dealer orders and inventories, the production mix of various models, and indications of demand such as consumer confidence, inflation concerns, interest rates, dealer orders placed at our annual dealer conferences, and retail attendance and orders at annual winter boat show exhibitions; our plans to consider trends related to certain key financial and other data, including our historical and forecasted financial results, market share, unit sales of our products, average selling price per boat, and gross profit margins, among others, as indicators of the success of our strategies; our plans to continue to monitor retail demand among the various segments in the recreational boat market, the actions of our competitors, dealer inventory levels and the availability of dealer and consumer financing for the purchase of our products and our plans to adjust our production levels as deemed appropriate; our belief that the strong retail demand for new recreational boats has subsided and has now normalized; our belief that consumers are returning to more pre-pandemic routine lifestyles and rising interest rates are contributing to higher costs of boat ownership; statements that since many recreational boat purchasers finance their purchases, higher interest rates may discourage them from the purchase of a boat; our belief that our financial results are affected by consumer confidence — because pleasure boating is a discretionary expenditure, interest rates — because many retail customers finance the purchase of their boats, and other socioeconomic and environmental factors such as availability of leisure time, consumer preferences, demographics and the weather; our expectation that the reduction in anticipated incentive compensation to be paid to selected non-executive employees will favorably impact selling, general and administrative expenses for future periods; our belief that our financial results during the remainder of 2024 will depend on a number of factors, including economic trends, demand for discretionary products, the impact of interest rates on consumer financing options and dealer inventory carrying costs, the effectiveness of our incentive programs, the success of new model