Newport Beach homebuilder William Lyon Homes Inc. said on Thursday it is cutting its staff by 25% this month, to realign the company for “expected future lower levels of volume.”
The news came as the homebuilder reported a net loss of $60 million in the third quarter, compared to profits of $10.5 million a year ago. The company posted a pre-tax loss of $78 million in the second quarter.
The third-quarter loss included $59 million in write-downs for land the homebuilder owns, to account for softening market conditions and slow sales. It has written down about $147 million in land impairment costs so far this year.
William Lyon Homes also said it is reducing its employee count by 134 employees this month to improve operating efficiencies. About another 100 employees had been let go earlier this year.
The lower employee count is expected to save the company about $12 million per year.
The company, which builds in California, Arizona and Nevada, saw third quarter home orders drop 33% compared to a year ago. Home deliveries fell 31% to 416 homes.
William Lyon posted revenue of $182.2 million in the quarter, which was down 40% from a year ago.
William Lyon Homes is managing the housing downturn as a private company, following a buyout in July 2006. It has continued to report financial results for the benefit of debt holders from before the buyout.
Chairman and Chief Executive Gen. William Lyon engineered the privatization, paying about $275 million in cash to buy roughly 25% of company he didn’t already own.
The deal valued William Lyon Homes at about $950 million at the time.
