AP WIRE: KB Homes and Stock Options Investigated |
Wednesday, 11 October 2006 |
KB Home Delays 3Q Filing
Home builder KB Home said Tuesday it won't make a deadline for filing its third-quarter financial report because it needs more time to finish a review of its history of granting stock options, after a committee uncovered evidence of improper accounting for the options.
KB Home Delays 3Q Filing
© 2006 The Associated Press
Oct. 10, 2006
NEW YORK â Home builder KB Home said Tuesday it won't make a deadline for filing its third-quarter financial report because it needs more time to finish a review of its history of granting stock options, after a committee uncovered evidence of improper accounting for the options.
It also said that on a preliminary basis third-quarter earnings fell 32 percent, and forecast "significant changes" in financial results for the three and nine-month periods ended Aug. 31.
An internal committee found that "actual measurement dates for financial accounting purposes of certain stock option grants likely differ from the recorded grant dates," KB Home said in a securities filing. The company first disclosed it would review its stock options practices on Aug. 24.
As a result, KB Home said it may need to record additional non-cash charges for the options, but hasn't yet determined the total amount of the expected charges.
In the filing, KB Home reported unaudited earnings for the quarter ended Aug. 31 of $155.3 million, or $1.93 per share, down from $227.5 million, or $2.55 per share.
Revenue for the quarter rose 6 percent to $2.67 billion. Housing gross margin, a key performance measure, worsened to 21.9 percent in the quarter, down from 27.4 percent in the year-ago period.
New home orders slid 43 percent to 5,989 in the quarter, weighed by a 53 percent drop in
U.S.
orders.
The company's housing backlog slid 14 percent to 23,878 units at the quarter's end, while the value of the backlog fell 8 percent to about $6.53 billion as home prices fell across the country.
KB Home said it plans to file the delayed 10-Q on or before Dec. 24, in order to avert defaulting on its debt. The company said the delayed filing could trigger a default on some of its debt and impair its ability to borrow against its credit facility, but was in talks with its lenders to get extensions.
KB Home shares fell 79 cents to $44 in premarket activity.
source http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4247931.html |