The New Home Company Reports 2019 Second Quarter Results

The New Home Company Inc. NWHM today announced results for the 2019 second quarter.

Second Quarter 2019 Financial Results

• Net income of $1.6 million, or $0.08 per diluted share, compared to $0.1 million, or $0.01 per diluted share, for the 2018 second quarter
• Home sales revenue up 20% to $140.5 million; deliveries up 56%
• Total revenues of $162.7 million vs. $155.6 million
• Backlog dollar value of $201.6 million
• Repurchased $7.0 million of the Company's 7.25% Senior Notes due 2022; debt-to-capital ratio of 61.1% and a net debt-to-capital ratio of 57.7%*, a sequential decrease of 240 basis points
• Generated $31.1 million in cash flow from operations

"I am very pleased with our second quarter results which included both top and bottom-line growth while making significant progress towards reducing our leverage and strengthening our balance sheet," said Larry Webb, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The New Home Company. "Home sales revenue increased 20% year-over-year from 56% more home deliveries, and our pretax income was up meaningfully over the prior year. In addition, we repurchased $7.0 million of senior notes during the quarter which, when combined with a net $18 million pay down of our revolving credit facility, resulted in a 240 basis point sequential decrease in our net debt-to-capital ratio to 57.7%*."

Mr. Webb continued, "We experienced solid sequential improvement in our sales absorption pace across all markets, with the 2019 second quarter monthly absorption rate of 2.4 sales per community up 41% over the 2019 first quarter, resulting in a 38% sequential increase in net new orders. We also continued to recognize benefits from our strategic repositioning to more affordable product as sales from these communities represented a higher proportion of our 2019 second quarter net new orders, as well as a higher sales absorption pace than our companywide average."

Mr. Webb concluded, "We remain committed to the initiatives established earlier this year to maintain a lower cost structure, strengthen our balance sheet and generate long-term value for our shareholders. I am proud of the progress we've made to date and we will continue to focus on these initiatives to further position the Company for long-term success."

Second Quarter 2019 Operating Results

Total revenues for the 2019 second quarter were $162.7 million compared to $155.6 million in the prior year period. Net income attributable to the Company for the 2019 second quarter was $1.6 million, or $0.08 per diluted share, compared to $0.1 million, or $0.01 per diluted share, in the prior year period. The year-over-year increase in net income was primarily attributable to a 20% increase in homebuilding revenue, a 200 basis point improvement in our SG&A rate, a $0.3 million increase in joint venture income and a $0.6 million gain on early extinguishment of debt. These items were partially offset by a 50 basis point decline in home sales gross margins and a lower fee building gross margin due to lower fee construction activity.

Wholly Owned Projects

Home sales revenue for the 2019 second quarter increased 20% to $140.5 million, compared to $117.5 million in the prior year period. The increase in home sales revenues was driven by a 56% increase in deliveries, partially offset by a 23% decrease in average selling price to $930,000 from $1.2 million a year ago. The lower year-over-year average selling price was impacted by mix, particularly in Southern California where the 2018 second quarter included deliveries from several higher-priced, closed-out communities in Orange County.

Gross margin from home sales for the 2019 second quarter was 12.1% as compared to 12.6% in the prior year period. The 50 basis point decrease was primarily due to higher interest costs and incentives, which were partially offset by a product mix shift. Adjusted homebuilding gross margin, which excludes interest in cost of home sales, was 16.5%* for the 2019 second quarter, compared to 15.8%* in the prior year period.

Our SG&A expense ratio as a percentage of home sales revenue for the 2019 second quarter was 11.1% versus 13.1% in the prior year period. The 200 basis point decrease in the SG&A rate was primarily due to improved leverage from higher home sales revenue, reduced marketing and advertising spend as compared to last year and to a lesser extent, lower personnel expenses. These decreases were partially offset by higher amortization of capitalized selling and marketing costs.

Net new home orders for the 2019 second quarter decreased 21% to 154 homes due to a slower monthly sales absorption rate, partially offset by an increase in average selling communities. The monthly sales absorption rate for the Company was 2.4 for the 2019 second quarter compared to 3.2 for the prior year period. Due to community closeouts late in the 2019 second quarter, we ended both the 2019 and 2018 second quarters with 20 active communities.

The dollar value of the Company's wholly owned backlog at the end of the 2019 second quarter was $201.6 million and totaled 207 homes compared to $290.9 million and 307 homes in the prior year period. The decrease in backlog units and value was driven by a higher backlog conversion rate for the 2019 second quarter coupled with a 25% decline in the monthly sales absorption rate. Our backlog conversion rate was 74% and 46%, respectively, for the 2019 and 2018 second quarters. The increase in the 2019 conversion rate resulted from the Company's move to more affordably priced product, which generally has quicker build cycles, as well as the Company's success in selling and delivering a higher number of spec homes.

Fee Building Projects

Fee building revenue for the 2019 second quarter was $22.3 million, compared to $38.1 million in the prior year period. The decrease in fee revenues was largely due to less construction activity in Irvine, California due to lower demand levels in that submarket. Additionally, management fees from joint ventures and construction management fees from third parties, which are included in fee building revenue, decreased to $1.1 million for the 2019 second quarter as compared to $1.4 million for the 2018 second quarter. The lower fee building revenue and decrease in management fees resulted in a fee building gross margin of $0.5 million for the 2019 second quarter versus $1.1 million in the prior year period.

Unconsolidated Joint Ventures (JVs)

The Company's share of joint venture income for the 2019 second quarter was $0.2 million as compared to a loss of $0.1 million in the prior year period, with the majority of the income generated from the Company's Mountain Shadows luxury community in Paradise Valley, Arizona. At the end of 2019 and 2018 second quarters, our joint ventures had six and seven actively selling communities, respectively.

Balance Sheet and Liquidity

As of June 30, 2019, the Company had real estate inventories totaling $542.0 million and owned or controlled 2,784 lots through its wholly owned operations (excluding fee building and joint venture lots), of which 1,180 lots, or 42%, were controlled through option contracts. The Company ended the 2019 second quarter with $48.2 million in cash and cash equivalents and $375.1 million in debt, of which $66.0 million was outstanding under its revolving credit facility. At June 30, 2019, the Company had a debt-to-capital ratio of 61.1% and a net debt-to-capital ratio of 57.7%*.

Repurchase of Senior Notes

During the 2019 second quarter, the Company repurchased and retired approximately $7.0 million of its 7.25% Senior Notes due 2022 for a cash payment of approximately $6.3 million, which resulted in a $0.6 million pretax gain on the early extinguishment of debt.

Guidance

The Company's current estimate for the 2019 third quarter is as follows:

• Home sales revenue of $100 - $120 million
• Fee building revenue of $10 - $15 million
• Home sales gross margin of 12.0% - 12.5%

The Company's current estimate for full year guidance for 2019 is as follows:

• Home sales revenue of $480 - $510 million
• Fee building revenue of $65 - $75 million
• Home sales gross margin of 12.0% - 12.5%

Conference Call Details

The Company will host a conference call and webcast for investors and other interested parties beginning at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, July 30, 2019 to review second quarter results, discuss recent events and results, and discuss the Company's quarterly guidance for 2019. We will also conduct a question-and-answer period. The conference call will be available in the Investors section of the Company's website at www.NWHM.com. To listen to the broadcast live, go to the site approximately 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start time in order to register, download and install any necessary audio software. To participate in the telephone conference call, dial 1-877-407-0789 (domestic) or 1-201-689-8562 (international) at least five minutes prior to the start time. Replays of the conference call will be available through August 30, 2019 and can be accessed by dialing 1-844-512-2921 (domestic) or 1-412-317-6671 (international) and entering the pass code 13692270.

* Net debt-to-capital ratio and adjusted homebuilding gross margin (or homebuilding gross margin excluding interest in cost of home sales) are non-GAAP measures. A reconciliation of the appropriate GAAP measure to each of these measures is included in the accompanying financial data. See "Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures."

About The New Home Company

NWHM is a new generation homebuilder focused on the design, construction and sale of innovative and consumer-driven homes in major metropolitan areas within select growth markets in California and Arizona, including Southern California, the San Francisco Bay area, metro Sacramento and the greater Phoenix area. The Company is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California. For more information about the Company and its new home developments, please visit the Company's website at www.NWHM.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Various statements contained in this press release, including those that express a belief, anticipation, expectation or intention, as well as those that are not statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements may include projections and estimates concerning our revenues, community counts and openings, the timing and success of specific projects, our ability to execute our strategic growth objectives, gross margins, other projected results, income, earnings per share, joint ventures and capital spending. Our forward-looking statements are generally accompanied by words such as "estimate," "should," "project," "predict," "believe," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," "potential," "plan," "goal," "will," "guidance," "target," "forecast," or other words that convey the uncertainty of future events or outcomes. The forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date of this release, and we disclaim any obligation to update these statements unless required by law, and we caution you not to rely on them unduly. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and assumptions about future events. While our management considers these expectations and assumptions to be reasonable, they are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, regulatory and other risks, contingencies and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control. The following factors, among others, may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements: economic changes either nationally or in the markets in which we operate, including declines in employment, volatility of mortgage interest rates and inflation; a downturn in the homebuilding industry; changes in sales conditions, including home prices, in the markets where we build homes; our significant amount of debt and the impact of restrictive covenants in our debt agreements; our ability to repay our debt as it comes due; changes in our credit rating or outlook; volatility and uncertainty in the credit markets and broader financial markets; our business and investment strategy including our plans to sell more affordably priced homes; availability of land to acquire and our ability to acquire such land on favorable terms or at all; our liquidity and availability, terms and deployment of capital; changes in margin; write-downs; shortages of or increased prices for labor, land or raw materials used in housing construction; adverse weather conditions and natural disasters (including wild fires and mudslides); our concentration in California; issues concerning our joint venture partnerships; the cost and availability of insurance and surety bonds; governmental regulation, including the impact of "slow growth" or similar initiatives; changes in, or the failure or inability to comply with, governmental laws and regulations; the timing of receipt of regulatory approvals and the opening of projects; delays in the land entitlement process, development, construction, or the opening of new home communities; litigation and warranty claims; the degree and nature of competition; the impact of recent accounting standards; availability of qualified personnel and our ability to retain our key personnel; and additional factors discussed under the sections captioned "Risk Factors" included in our annual report and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company reserves the right to make such updates from time to time by press release, periodic report or other method of public disclosure without the need for specific reference to this press release. No such update shall be deemed to indicate that other statements not addressed by such update remain correct or create an obligation to provide any other updates.

(1) Monthly sales absorption represents the number of net new home orders divided by the number of average selling communities for the period.

(1) Includes lots that we control under purchase and sale agreements or option agreements subject to customary conditions and have not yet closed. There can be no assurance that such acquisitions will occur.

(2) Lots owned by third party property owners for which we perform general contracting or construction management services.

(1) Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin percentage, ratio of Adjusted EBITDA to total interest incurred, ratio of net debt-to-capital, ratio of debt to LTM Adjusted EBITDA and ratio of net debt to LTM Adjusted EBITDA are non-GAAP measures. Please see "Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures" for a reconciliation of each of these measures to the appropriate GAAP measure.

(2) "LTM" indicates amounts for the trailing 12 months.

RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
(Unaudited)

In this earnings release, we utilize certain non-GAAP financial measures as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission. We present these measures because we believe they, and similar measures, are useful to management and investors in evaluating the Company's operating performance and financing structure. We also believe these measures facilitate the comparison of our operating performance and financing structure with other companies in our industry. Because these measures are not calculated in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("GAAP"), they may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP.

The following table reconciles homebuilding gross margin percentage as reported and prepared in accordance with GAAP to the non-GAAP measure, adjusted homebuilding gross margin (or homebuilding gross margin excluding interest in cost of home sales). We believe this information is meaningful, as it isolates the impact leverage has on homebuilding gross margin and provides investors better comparisons with our competitors, who adjust gross margins in a similar fashion.

RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES (continued)
(Unaudited)

The following table reconciles the Company's ratio of debt-to-capital to the non-GAAP ratio of net debt-to-capital. We believe that the ratio of net debt-to-capital is a relevant financial measure for management and investors to understand the leverage employed in our operations and as an indicator of the Company's ability to obtain financing.

(1) The ratio of debt-to-capital is computed as the quotient obtained by dividing total debt, net of unamortized discount, premium and debt issuance costs by total capital (the sum of total debt, net of unamortized discount, premium and debt issuance costs plus equity, exclusive of non-controlling interest).

(2) The ratio of net debt-to-capital is computed as the quotient obtained by dividing net debt (which is total debt, net of unamortized discount, premium and debt issuance costs less cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash to the extent necessary to reduce the debt balance to zero) by total capital, exclusive of non-controlling interest. The most directly comparable GAAP financial measure is the ratio of debt-to-capital. We believe the ratio of net debt-to-capital is a relevant financial measure for investors to understand the leverage employed in our operations and as an indicator of our ability to obtain financing. We believe that by deducting our cash from our debt, we provide a measure of our indebtedness that takes into account our cash liquidity. We believe this provides useful information as the ratio of debt-to-capital does not take into account our liquidity and we believe that the ratio net of cash provides supplemental information by which our financial position may be considered. Investors may also find this to be helpful when comparing our leverage to the leverage of our competitors that present similar information.

RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES (continued)
(Unaudited)

Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA margin percentage, the ratio of Adjusted EBITDA to total interest incurred, the ratio of debt to Adjusted EBITDA, and the ratio of net debt to Adjusted EBITDA are non-GAAP measures. Adjusted EBITDA means net income (loss) (plus cash distributions of income from unconsolidated joint ventures) before (a) income taxes, (b) interest expense, (c) amortization of previously capitalized interest included in cost of sales and equity in net income (loss) of unconsolidated joint ventures, (d) severance charges (e) noncash impairment charges and abandoned project costs, (f) gain on early extinguishment of debt (g) depreciation and amortization, (h) amortization of stock-based compensation and (i) income (loss) from unconsolidated joint ventures. Adjusted EBITDA margin percentage is calculated by dividing Adjusted EBITDA by total revenue for a given period. The ratio of Adjusted EBITDA to total interest incurred is calculated by dividing Adjusted EBITDA by total interest incurred for a given period. The ratio of debt to Adjusted EBITDA is calculated by dividing debt at the period end by Adjusted EBITDA for a given period. The ratio of net debt to Adjusted EBITDA is calculated by dividing debt at the period end less cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash by Adjusted EBITDA for a given period. Other companies may calculate Adjusted EBITDA differently. Management believes that Adjusted EBITDA assists investors in understanding and comparing the operating characteristics of homebuilding activities by eliminating many of the differences in companies' respective capitalization, interest costs, tax position, level of impairments and other non-recurring items. Due to the significance of the GAAP components excluded, Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered in isolation or as an alternative to net income (loss), cash flows from operations or any other performance measure prescribed by GAAP. A reconciliation of net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA, and the calculations of Adjusted EBITDA margin percentage, the ratio of Adjusted EBITDA to total interest incurred, the ratio of debt to Adjusted EBITDA, and the ratio of net debt to Adjusted EBITDA are provided in the following table.

(1) "LTM" indicates amounts for the trailing 12 months.

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