DEVELOPER GOING OUT WITH FLAIR LAST INDEPENDENT QUARTER SUNNY FOR NEWHALL LAND.

Byline: Nicholas Grudin Staff Writer

VALENCIA - In what likely is its final financial release as an autonomous firm, The Newhall Land and Farming Company on Wednesday posted strong year-end results for 2003, surpassing 2002 profits by more than 30 percent.

The announcement came as the Valencia-based developer prepares for the only remaining hurdle in a bid by national real estate giants Lennar Corp. and LNR Property Corp. to buy Newhall Land for nearly $1 billion. The acquisition will go before the California Public Utilities Commission today. If approved, the deal will mark the finale in the legacy of Newhall Land, which literally built the city of Santa Clarita.

``We had a truly outstanding year, better than we had anticipated. It was great to end on a nice high note like that,'' said Marlee Lauffer, a vice president of Newhall Land.

In 2003, Newhall Land pulled in $194 million in revenue and $54 million in net income. In 2002, the company had $240 million in revenue, but just $41 million in net income.

Newhall Land's results for the quarter that ended Dec. 31 - $34 million in net income, compared with $13 million in the same time span of 2002 - buoyed its strong showing for the year.

Company officials attribute the profit gains to several factors, including the sale of 792 lots for homes, 27 acres of industrial land and 54 acres of commercial land and an $8.9 million settlement for oil contamination caused by drilling on the site of the planned 21,000-home Newhall Ranch project.

Construction is set to begin in 2006 on Newhall Ranch, considered the company's most valuable asset and the central piece of the Lennar deal. The largest subdivision in the history of the county, the master-planned community will be situated in the rolling hills southwest of the junction of the Golden State Freeway and Highway 126.

``The company continued to make progress on land planning and entitlements for the balance of Valencia and Newhall Ranch,'' Gary Cusumano, Newhall Land chief executive, said in the report. ``In addition, the company's portfolio of income-producing assets was enhanced with the completion of the food-court renovation at Valencia Town Center and the opening of the TPC at Valencia golf course in our Westridge community.''

But the real celebration at the company's Valencia headquarters will begin if the Lennar purchase is approved by the PUC, which has the final word on the deal because Newhall Land owns and operates a utility, the Valencia Water Company.

The purchase, which the companies agreed upon July 21, 2003, already has been approved by Newhall Land unit holders. If the deal goes through, the unit holders will receive $40.50 per unit, a 25 percent premium on what the stock was selling for at the time of its purchase. Wednesday, the stock closed at $40.46 per unit.

``We anticipate that there will be a positive response from the PUC; however, until they hear the issue tomorrow, it's difficult to say what the outcome will be,'' Lauffer said.

If the deal is approved, as Lauffer expects it will be, then Wednesday marked the last financial chapter in the history of an extremely successful Santa Clarita company that has shaped the city and transformed the region.

Henry Mayo Newhall, 24, of Saugus, Mass., traveled to California in 1849 to find gold. Instead, he found the next best thing in the Santa Clarita Valley: lots and lots of land. Newhall died in 1882, and passed on 143,000 acres of California ranches to his five sons, who incorporated their properties in 1883 as The Newhall Land and Farming Company.

Until the latter part of the 20th Century, the Newhall Land property was used for farming and oil drilling. But in the late 1950s, as Los Angeles began to expand, the family decided to create a real estate company.

In 1965, Newhall Land began the development of Valencia, which is now the centerpiece of the city of Santa Clarita, one of the fastest-growing cities in America and the heart of Santa Clarita and the commercial center of north Los Angeles County.

Now, the company owns about 52,000 acres of land that are devoted to real estate development and agriculture. Newhall Ranch is the final major project on the company's development agenda.

Nicholas Grudin, [phone]

nicholas.grudin(at)dailynews.com