San Diego, Calif.-based Accredited Home Lenders (NASDAQ:LEND) and Irvine, Calif.-based Impac Mortgage Holdings (NYSE:IMH) each missed filing deadlines with the SEC last week, with both companies saying they would need more time to prepare their fourth quarter and year-end financial results. The news of delays comes as other lenders, including Fremont General and New Century, also missed filing deadlines last week due to what many industry insiders have characterized as “fatal” problems at each company. In a filing with the SEC requesting an extension, Accredited said that it was still digesting its recent $340 million acquisition of Aames Investment Corp., and that current market conditions had adversely affected the original terms of the deal. Accredited warned that it may charge off any goodwill associated with the Aames deal, although it said the charge-offs would not be of a cash nature. Industry insiders have told Housing Wire that some Accredited executives are already questioning the timing of the Aames purchase, although a spokesperson at Accredited could not be reached by HW‘s publishing deadline. The company also left open the possibility of reporting unexpected losses beyond the roughly $100 million drop in annual net income that it has already said it expects, saying “there can be no assurance” that the company has considered the full ipact of its Aames purchase or deteriorating market conditions.
Such a disclosure has led some to question whether Accredited is anticipating even greater effects from loan repurchases than what the company disclosed in its earnings call in February. “I’m not sure why the company would hedge its bets like that,” said one source, on the condition of anonymity. Impac affected by accounting errors Alt-A REIT Impac Mortgage Holdings also said Friday it would delay its formal earnings report, due to what it called a “material weakness” in its financial reporting. The company said that cash inflows and outflows related to certain intercompany mortgage loan sales and purchases were inappropriately classified as operating cash flows and investing cash flows in the consolidated statements of cash flows, although it did not provide clarification on the number and nature of transactions implicated. Impac said it expects to report that its internal controls over financial reporting were “inadequate,” requiring the company to restate both its 2004 and 2005 statements of cash flows, in addition to the delays associated with the company’s 2006 filing. Company representatives did not return calls seeking comment, and as of HW‘s publishing deadline on Monday it wasn’t entirely clear what the company’s pending restatement and admission of “material weakness” would mean. A few industry sources told HW that depending on the nature of the restatement process, Impac may face shareholder litigation claims similar to those of NovaStar Financial (NYSE:NFI) and New Century (NYSE:NEW). Impac’s stock had dropped more than 28 percent to $4.29 on the New York Stock exchange in heavy trading volume early Monday. Full disclosure: The author of this commentary does not own securities in any of the publicly-held companies discussed herein. Housing Wire will always disclose the financial position of its writers or contributors.
