Fleetwood Reports Preliminary Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year Sales

    RIVERSIDE, Calif., May 3 Fleetwood Enterprises, Inc.
, the nation's largest manufacturer of recreational vehicles and a
leading producer and retailer of manufactured housing, today announced
preliminary sales for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended April 29, 2001.

    Significantly reduced sales of both recreational vehicles and manufactured
housing generated fiscal year revenues of $2.53 billion, a decline of
33 percent compared with last year's record $3.77 billion.  Fourth quarter
revenues were down 40 percent from last year's level of $906 million to
$545 million for the current period.

    Fiscal year recreational vehicle sales were $1.21 billion, a decline of
37 percent compared with last year's record $1.92 billion.  Motor home
revenues dropped to $638 million from $1.20 billion in the prior year.  Travel
trailer sales for the year declined to $452 million from last year's
$599 million, while folding trailer revenues declined from $129 million to
$117 million.

    Housing revenues for fiscal year 2001 were $1.29 billion compared with
last year's $1.80 billion, a decrease of 28 percent.  This year's revenues
include $737 million from manufacturing operations and $553 million from
retail stores.  Sales for the comparable period last year were $1.21 billion
and $592 million, respectively.  Gross manufacturing revenues, including
intercompany sales of $243 million, were approximately $979 million compared
with $1.52 billion for last year.

    "As this year's sales results indicate, both of our industries experienced
a stunning reversal compared to fiscal year 2000," President and CEO Nelson W.
Potter said.  "While manufactured housing has been in a slump for about two
years due to excessive inventories at the retail level, clearly this year's
results were exacerbated by competition from repossessed homes, along with
more stringent lending standards and relatively high interest rates.
Historically, RV sales have tended to be a leading economic indicator, and
sales started to fall off immediately after the stock market began to show
signs of weakness at the beginning of our fiscal year."

    Segment sales for the fourth quarter showed year-over-year declines
steeper than those posted for the full year.  Recreational vehicle sales for
the quarter declined 42 percent to $289 million compared with $500 million a
year ago.  Each RV division posted lower fourth quarter revenues than it had
last year, when the Company's sales were just beginning to slow from a record
pace.  Motor home sales fell to $155 million compared with $307 million one
year ago.  In the towable RV categories, travel trailer sales declined from
$160 million in last year's fourth quarter to $106 million this year.  Folding
trailers were down from $33 million to about $29 million.

    Manufactured housing revenues slipped 37 percent to approximately
$247 million during the fourth quarter compared with $394 million a year ago.
Housing revenues include net manufacturing sales of $153 million to
independent retailers and retail sales of $94 million from Company-owned sales
centers.  This compares with $267 million and $127 million, respectively, last
year.  Current quarter gross manufacturing revenues declined 44 percent from
$332 million in the fourth quarter of 2000 to $187 million this year,
including intercompany sales of $34 million to Company-owned retail stores.

    "Although, as previously announced, the Company expects to incur a loss in
the fourth quarter, there are reasons for optimism for fiscal year 2002,"
Potter continued.  "Our recreational vehicle segment is making progress in
product design, and we're confident that our new models will generate consumer
excitement as they are introduced.  The housing segment now has what we
believe to be appropriate production capacity for current market demand, and
we are poised to supply homes of optimum value to our customers through very
convenient channels, several of which are new.  Demographics and other
positive trends seem to indicate that longer-term prospects for both
businesses are good."

    All sales figures have been adjusted to incorporate recent pronouncements
from the Emerging Issues Task Force regarding Accounting for Shipping and
Handling Fees and Costs (EITF 00-10) and Accounting for Certain Sales
Incentives (EITF 00-14).  In following the pronouncements, Fleetwood has
included amounts billed for delivery in revenue, thus increasing sales, and
will include the related shipping and handling costs in cost of sales.  In
addition, sales incentives that were previously accounted for as selling
expense are now being treated as a reduction to revenue.  The adoption of this
EITF only affects the classification of certain revenues and costs, and does
not affect the Company's net income (loss).  The net effect has been an
overall increase in reported sales figures of about 1 percent in the current
year and 2 percent in the prior year.