Expansion lifts Meritage profit

Thursday, Oct. 23, 2003 | 11:24 a.m.

Home builder Meritage Corp. on Monday reported a profit of $25.8 million or $1.86 per share for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, up from $22.4 million or $1.58 in the year-ago quarter.

Meritage bought Perma-Bilt Homes in Las Vegas in October 2002. Perma-Bilt Homes closed escrow on 476 homes in 2002 making it the 15th largest builder in the Las Vegas Valley, Home Builders Research, Inc. reported.

Revenue for Meritage, which has corporate offices in Arizona and Texas, grew 15.7 percent to $380.8 million.

The company attributed the improvement to diversifying its operations and expanding within its existing markets in Texas, Arizona and California and its October 2002 acquisition of Perma-Bilt Homes.

Meritage has 3,217 homes in backlog, which is 40 percent more than the prior year's quarter backlog. The company expects to close on about 5,600 homes this year.

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