Toll Brothers Inc

Luxury home builder Toll Brothers Inc. was named lead developer Monday of 840 acres in northeast Orange County where 2,100 homes and a golf course are planned on hills that have been dotted with Shell Oil Co. wells for 70 years. The first 850 homes will go on sale starting in 2000 on property where only a few wells had been located. All those wells have ceased operating, oil officials said. Toll said it will build 270 of those homes, priced from $400,000 to $600,000.

Luxury home builder Toll Bros. Inc. on Tuesday announced a 41% drop in sales in its fiscal fourth quarter, and its chief executive joined the industry chorus that is calling for quick government action to revive the housing market. Chief Executive Robert Toll said the preliminary signs of market stability he saw in early September were reversed by the financial crisis.

* Luxury home builder Toll Bros. Inc. said that signed contracts for its homes fell 29% in its fiscal second quarter and that deliveries for the year would be 200 fewer than expected.

Toll Bros. Inc., the largest U.S. luxury home builder, reported revenue that exceeded analysts' projections and said it was starting to see buyers return to the market for new houses. Fiscal third-quarter home-building revenue declined 34% to $796.5 million, and Toll had the lowest quarterly total cancellations in more than two years. The company was projected to have sales of $735 million, according to an analyst survey by Bloomberg. "We believe there is growing pent-up demand from those who have postponed buying during the past almost three years," Chief Executive Robert Toll said.

City officials say they may have to shut down construction of golf course homes at the foot of Chino Hills if the developer fails to be a "good neighbor." Toll Brothers, the contractor building about 1,200 homes as part of the Vista del Verde development, has not delivered what it has promised, said Roy Stephenson, the city's public works director.

Toll Bros. Inc., the largest U.S. builder of luxury homes, said fiscal third-quarter profit rose 60% to $59.4 million, or $1.54 a share, more than analysts expected, as lower borrowing costs boosted demand for its houses. Revenue rose 26% to $584.1 million. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call expected the company to earn $1.22 a share. Shares of Huntingdon Valley, Pa.-based Toll, which is the eighth-largest builder by revenue, rose 89 cents to $35.19 on the NYSE.

Toll Bros. Inc. said its profit more than doubled in its latest quarter on continued strong demand and backlog for the company's luxury homes. The Horsham, Pa.-based company said net income rose to $110.2 million, or $1.33 a share, for the fiscal first quarter ended Jan. 31. That's up from the previous year's $50.1 million, or 62 cents a share. Revenue rose 67% to $999.1 million. Analysts were looking for earnings of about $1.15 a share, according to a Thomson First Call survey.

Toll Bros. Inc., the largest U.S. builder of luxury homes, said 2006 earnings might increase at the slowest pace in four years after fiscal fourth-quarter profit gained 72% on demand from affluent buyers. The Horsham, Pa.-based company said Thursday that earnings next year would grow 0.2% to 10%, the slowest pace since 5% in 2002. In August, Toll had said profit would grow about 20% in 2006. "We're seeing a moderation" in demand, Chief Financial Officer Joel Rassman said.

Luxury home builder Toll Bros. Inc. cut its sales forecast for fiscal 2006 on Tuesday, triggering a sell-off in housing stocks amid fears that the nation's real estate boom has peaked. Some analysts, however, said Toll's problems were company-specific. Some other builders, including Los Angeles-based KB Home and Irvine-based Standard Pacific Corp., recently raised profit estimates. Horsham, Pa.-based Toll Bros. cited delayed openings for new developments and weakened demand in several markets.

The Saturday radio broadcasts of New York's Metropolitan Opera, which have introduced generations to the art form, have been saved from extinction, at least temporarily. The suburban Philadelphia-based home-building firm Toll Brothers, which operates in 20 states, has agreed to sponsor the broadcasts for the next four seasons. The broadcasts cost $6 million a year. Toll Brothers will pay a major portion of that cost, according to the Met.

Luxury home builder Toll Bros. Inc. on Wednesday reported its biggest quarterly loss in 22 years as the worst housing recession in more than two decades forced the company to write down the value of developments. The net loss in the fiscal first quarter that ended Jan. 31 was $96 million, or 61 cents a share, compared with earnings of $54.3 million, or 33 cents, a year earlier, the Horsham, Pa.-based company said. Toll was projected to report a loss of 50 cents a share, according to the average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Luxury home builder Toll Bros. Inc. reported a 44% drop in quarterly profit Tuesday but signaled that the worst might be over for the sagging housing market. Hopes for an end to the decline in housing sent Toll shares up 3%. The market was "dancing along the bottom for a couple of months," Chief Executive Robert Toll said in a conference call with analysts. "It appears that we are now off the bottom."

Home builders Toll Bros. Inc. and Beazer Homes USA Inc. said Tuesday that orders for new homes declined and customer cancellations rose as the housing slump deepened. Toll, the largest U.S. luxury home builder, said fiscal fourth-quarter home building revenue fell 10% and orders tumbled 58%. Beazer, the seventh-largest home builder by revenue, said orders dropped 58%.

Three of the nation's biggest home builders issued downbeat news about the housing market Wednesday, warning that buyers' increasing wariness could affect their businesses more severely than previously thought. Citing weaker-than-expected demand, Los Angeles-based KB Home cut its full-year profit forecast for the second time in three months. Separately, Red Bluff, N.J.-based Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. said quarterly profit dropped 36%. And Robert Toll, chief executive of Horsham, Pa.

Home builder Toll Bros. Inc.'s fiscal second-quarter earnings climbed at their slowest pace in three years as higher mortgage rates weakened the housing market. Net income for the quarter ended April 30 rose 2.8% to $174.9 million, or $1.06 a share, from $170.1 million, or $1, a year earlier, Horsham, Pa.-based Toll said Tuesday. Its stock rose 1.7% after the company, the largest U.S. luxury home builder, didn't cut its outlook as severely as analysts expected.

* Luxury home builder Toll Bros. Inc. said that signed contracts for its homes fell 29% in its fiscal second quarter and that deliveries for the year would be 200 fewer than expected.

Toll Bros. Inc., a leading builder of luxury homes in the U.S., said Thursday that its fiscal second-quarter earnings rose sharply, and it raised its forecast for the year. Net income soared 135% to $170.1 million, or $2.01 a share, in the three months ended April 30, from $72.4 million, or 89 cents, in the same period a year earlier. That quarter included a charge of 6 cents a share related to early retirement of debt. Revenue increased 52% to $1.25 billion from $819.5 million.

Home builders Toll Bros. Inc. and Beazer Homes USA Inc. said Tuesday that orders for new homes declined and customer cancellations rose as the housing slump deepened. Toll, the largest U.S. luxury home builder, said fiscal fourth-quarter home building revenue fell 10% and orders tumbled 58%. Beazer, the seventh-largest home builder by revenue, said orders dropped 58%.

Toll Bros. Inc., the largest U.S. builder of luxury homes, said 2006 earnings might increase at the slowest pace in four years after fiscal fourth-quarter profit gained 72% on demand from affluent buyers. The Horsham, Pa.-based company said Thursday that earnings next year would grow 0.2% to 10%, the slowest pace since 5% in 2002. In August, Toll had said profit would grow about 20% in 2006. "We're seeing a moderation" in demand, Chief Financial Officer Joel Rassman said.