Forest City-based Winnebago Industries is seeing immediate results from its purchase of a company that makes towable recreational vehicles. Winnebago bought   Grand Design Recreational Vehicles in October to be able to offer a product that’s popular among younger buyers. Company president and C-E-O, Michael Happe talked about the impact of the 500-million dollar purchase in a quarterly conference call for investors Wednesday.

“At the end of Q-1 we delivered strong revenue and net income growth, while margins remained steady. Consolidated revenues were 245-point-three million dollars. An increase of  14-point-five percent year-over-year, driven primarily by strong growth in our towables business,” Happe said.

The Grand Designs line made an early impact on the bottom line. “Our top line results benefited from approximately three weeks of Grand Design sales — which contributed 25-point-eight million dollars of revenue,” according to Happe.

He says they also saw improvement in their other lines. “Motorized retail registrations on a unit basis achieved near double-digit growth for the quarter,” Happe said. “And toward the end of the quarter we were encouraged by the material improvement in retail registrations and backlog for the Class A product line.” Happe said they are focused on driving greater and more consistent product quality and customer service. “Gross profit overall for Winnebago Industries was steady for the quarter. However, we are confident that we will realize the increasing benefits from the profitability of the Grand Design line in future quarters,” Happe said.

The  2017 first quarter net income was 11-point-seven million dollars, or 42 cents per diluted share. That’s an increase of 37-point-two percent for the same period last year.

(Radio Iowa)

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say Sioux City firefighters have rescued a woman and three children who were trapped by flames in their second-floor home. The fire was reported a little after 7:10 p.m. Wednesday at the duplex across a street from the Morningside College campus. Firefighters say flames in a stairwell kept the occupants from escaping the danger. The firefighters set up a ladder against a balcony, and the four were helped to safety on the ground. No injuries have been reported. The fire cause is being investigated.

The Creston Police Department says a Creston resident reported early this (Thursday) morning, that someone had stolen his ATV, sometime between Tuesday and 1-a.m. today (Thursday). The yellow, 2000 Bombardier DS-650 taken from the residence in the 500 block of N. Walnut Street, was valued at $5,000.

Authorities said also, 28-year old Christopher Fannon, of Creston, was arrested Wednesday at the Union County Law Enforcement Center, on a Union County Warrant for the charge of Driving While License Denied or Revoked. Fannon was later released from the Union County Jail on $1,000 bond.

MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) – Fake American money marked with Chinese symbols has been showing up in Mason City. The Mason City Police Department said Wednesday that bills were found at a business and in a bank deposit. Officials say the bills are not valid currency and are typically used to train bank tellers in China. The fake bills also have been reported in the Sioux City area.