Taylor Morrison Reports Fourth Quarter and Year End 2013 Financial Results

Taylor Morrison Home Corporation (the “Company” or “Taylor Morrison”) (NYSE: TMHC) announced today financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2013. Earnings per share were $0.79 on net income for the quarter of $96.0 million, which includes certain tax benefits related to the reversal of a portion of the valuation allowance on deferred tax assets and a tax indemnification settlement. Excluding these items, earnings per share as adjusted was $0.72.

“This has been a remarkable year for Taylor Morrison,” said Sheryl Palmer, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We successfully executed against our strategy of first identifying and then developing and building in core locations within high-growth markets to continue our trend of strong results and more than four years of operating profit.”

“As we look ahead to 2015 and beyond, our opportunistic investment in our land bank portfolio has uniquely positioned us for success. We own or control most of what we need to execute in 2015, and we believe our disciplined investments in high-growth markets will ensure that we are able to maintain quality lots in core locations in order to meet future demand in 2016 and beyond,” Palmer concluded.

Net sales orders in the Company’s U.S. operations increased 23.1% in the fourth quarter of 2013 with a continued focus on move-up buyers. Net sales orders in the Company’s Canadian operations were down 3.8% in the fourth quarter of 2013. Net sales orders on a Company-wide basis increased 19.6% to 1,174 in the fourth quarter of 2013, as compared to 982 in the fourth quarter of last year. During the quarter, average community count increased by 48% to 180. Consistent with the third quarter, the Company’s overall monthly absorption pace was 2.2 net sales orders per community in the fourth quarter of 2013.

The sales order backlog value in the U.S. increased 37.9% to $987.8 million at December 31, 2013 from $716.0 million at December 31, 2012 and units in backlog increased by 16.2% to 2,166 homes at December 31, 2013 as compared to 1,864 homes at December 31, 2012. The Company’s consolidated sales order backlog value increased 9.8% to approximately $1.25 billion at December 31, 2013 from $1.14 billion at December 31, 2012, and with the delivery of two wholly owned high-rise towers in Canada, backlog units decreased 6.7% to 2,988 homes at December 31, 2013 compared with 3,203 homes at December 31, 2012. The fourth quarter 2013 cancellation rate, representing cancelled sales orders divided by gross sales orders, was 15.2%, as compared to 11.5% in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Home closings revenue totaled $780.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2013, benefiting from a 33.6% increase in homes closed, from 1,400 in the 2012 quarter to 1,870 during the 2013 quarter. Consolidated average home closing price increased 8.1% to $417,000, while average home closing price in the U.S. increased 18.3% to nearly $425,000 year-over-year. Adjusted home closings gross margin in the fourth quarter of 2013, which excludes capitalized interest, was 24.8%, an improvement of 100 basis points from the third quarter of 2013. Adjusted home closings gross margin declined 60 basis points as compared to the fourth quarter of 2012. Home closings gross margin dollars increased 40.9% to $193.4 million in the 2013 fourth quarter as compared to the prior year quarter. Home closings gross margin in the fourth quarter of 2013 declined to 22.8%, compared to 23.4% in the fourth quarter of 2012.

The Company’s mortgage company, Taylor Morrison Home Funding (“TMHF”), reported a gross margin of $5.0 million on financial services revenue of $9.5 million for the quarter. The mortgage capture rate for TMHF was 78% for both the fourth quarter and full year 2013.

Selling, general and administrative expenses were $68.2 million, or 8.7% of home closings revenue for the 2013 fourth quarter, compared to $48.0 million or 8.9% of home closings revenue for the fourth quarter of 2012. Equity in income of unconsolidated entities, which represents the Company’s investments in joint ventures, was $16.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2013 as compared to $11.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2012.

The Company ended the fourth quarter of 2013 with $414.0 million of cash, including $24.8 million of restricted cash. Our net debt to capital ratio was 38.1% at the end of the quarter, and we had no borrowings under our $400 million unsecured revolving credit facility. Homebuilding inventories at the end of the 2013 totaled $2.26 billion, an increase of 41.0% from $1.60 billion at December 31, 2012. The Company owned or controlled more than 45,000 lots, excluding unconsolidated joint ventures, at December 31, 2013, compared with approximately 40,000 lots at December 31, 2012.

“As we look towards 2014, we anticipate our community count to increase 25% to 30% and closings to increase by 15% to 20%,” said Dave Cone, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. “We anticipate home closings margin to be flat relative to 2013 with accretion expected in the US operations being offset by the decline in the Canadian home closings margin. We anticipate continued leverage in SG&A, as a percentage of homebuilding revenue and be under 10%. Income from unconsolidated joint ventures is expected to be approximately $16 million to $20 million.”

For the first quarter of 2014, community count is expected to increase by 15% to 20% and closings to increase approximately 15% year-over-year. Income from unconsolidated joint ventures is anticipated to be between $1 million and $2 million.

Earnings Conference Call

A conference call to discuss the Company’s fourth quarter 2013 earnings will be held at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, February 12, 2014. The call will be broadcast live on the Internet and can be accessed through the investor relations page on the Company’s website at www.taylormorrison.com. If you are unable to participate in the conference call, the call will be archived at www.taylormorrison.com for one year. A replay of the conference call will also be available later today by calling 1 (888) 843-7419 or 1 (630) 652-3042 and entering 3640 8857 as the confirmation number.

Forward-Looking Statements

This earnings release includes forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause our actual results, performance, prospects or opportunities, as well as those of the markets we serve or intend to serve, to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these statements. You can identify these statements by the fact that they do not relate to matters of a strictly factual or historical nature and generally discuss or relate to forecasts, estimates or other expectations regarding future events. Generally, the words believe, expect, intend, estimate, anticipate, project, may, can, could, might, will and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, including statements related to expected operating and performing results, planned transactions, planned objectives of management, future developments or conditions in the industries in which we participate and other trends, developments and uncertainties that may affect our business in the future.

Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among other things: interest rate changes and the availability of mortgage financing; continued volatility in the debt and equity markets; competition within the industries in which Taylor Morrison operates; the availability and cost of land and other raw materials used by Taylor Morrison in its home building operations; the impact of any changes to our strategy in responding to continuing adverse conditions in the industry, including any changes regarding our land positions; the availability and cost of insurance covering risks associated with Taylor Morrison’s businesses; shortages and the cost of labor; weather related slowdowns; slow growth initiatives and/or local building moratoria; governmental regulation directed at or affecting the housing market, the homebuilding industry or construction activities; uncertainty in the mortgage lending industry, including revisions to underwriting standards and repurchase requirements associated with the sale of mortgage loans; the interpretation of or changes to tax, labor and environmental laws; economic changes nationally or in Taylor Morrison’s local markets, including inflation, deflation, changes in consumer confidence and preferences and the state of the market for homes in general; legal or regulatory proceedings or claims; required accounting changes; terrorist acts and other acts of war; and other factors of national, regional and global scale, including those of a political, economic, business and competitive nature. Taylor Morrison undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or changes in Taylor Morrison’s expectations. In addition, other such risks and uncertainties may be found in Taylor Morrison Home Corporation’s Registration Statement on Form S-1 and subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the heading “Risk Factors.”

About Taylor Morrison

Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, Taylor Morrison Home Corporation (NYSE:TMHC) operates in the U.S. under the Taylor Morrison and Darling Homes brands and in Canada under the Monarch brand. Taylor Morrison is a builder and developer of single-family detached and attached homes serving a wide array of customers including first-time, move-up, luxury and active adult customers. Taylor Morrison divisions operate in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida and Texas. Darling Homes serves a variety of consumers from move-up to luxury homebuyers in Texas. Monarch, Canada’s oldest homebuilder, builds homes for first-time and move-up buyers in Toronto and Ottawa as well as high rise condominiums in Toronto.

For more information about Taylor Morrison, Darling Homes or Monarch, please visit www.taylormorrison.com, www.darlinghomes.com and www.monarchgroup.net.

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

The following tables set forth a reconciliation between the Company’s home closings gross margin and adjusted home closings gross margin as well as between net income and adjusted net income. Adjusted home closings gross margin is a non-GAAP financial measure calculated based on gross margins, excluding impairments and capitalized interest amortization. Management uses adjusted home closings gross margins to evaluate the Company’s performance on a consolidated basis as well as the performance of the Company’s regions. Adjusted net income is a non-GAAP financial measure calculated based on net income, excluding various charges and expenses that do not reflect the ongoing operations of the Company, including (i) expense from early extinguishment of debt, (ii) reversal of an indemnification receivable and a related tax payable, (iii) reversal of valuation allowances, (iv) charges related to the Company's initial public offering and related reorganization, (v) charges related to the termination of the management services agreements with the Company's principal equity holders in connection with the Company's initial public offering and (vi) tax effects of the foregoing. The Company believes adjusted gross margin and adjusted net income are relevant and useful to investors for evaluating the Company’s performance. These measures are considered non-GAAP financial measures and should be considered in addition to, rather than as a substitute for, the comparable U.S. GAAP financial measures as a measure of the Company’s operating performance. Although other companies in the homebuilding industry report similar information, the methods used may differ. The Company urges investors to understand the methods used by other companies in the homebuilding industry to calculate net income and gross margins and any adjustments to such amounts before comparing the Company’s measures to those of such other companies.