11.08.2010

Sharp improvement at Manitex

US based boom truck and fork truck manufacturer Manitex has reported a strong improvement in its first half results.

Revenues were $41.5 million up 60 percent on the same period last year, and 65 percent for the second quarter. Around 55 percent of the increase came from the acquisitions of Badger and Load King that were made in the third and fourth quarters of 2009 respectively. The remaining part of the increase resulted from strong demand for material handling products from military and international customers and from Manitex boom trucks

Pre-tax profits were $778,000 compared to a loss of $197,000 in the first half of 2009.

The company ended the period with a backlog of $25 million, compared to $14.2 million at the end of June 2009.

Chief executive David said: "Our specialty manufacturing strategy is working. Our plants are running at much better rates of production in comparison to a year ago and our visibility is good for the rest of the year. This optimism is reflected in the solid improvement in the backlog of our core crane products. Finally, we are very excited about the addition of our recently announced CVS Ferrari operating contract. CVS puts our Company into a specialty port service area which is showing significant growth. This new business area is international in scope, has large scale, and has the potential to bring a meaningful increase to our financial results. Moreover, we expect that CVS Ferrari sales will begin to contribute to our financial results beginning in the third quarter of this year."

Andrew Rooke, Manitex chief operating officer added: "We were pleased to report a continuation of strong cash generation, with EBITDA for the quarter of $1.7 million, or 8.9 percent of sales, a result of the improved cost structure achieved over the last eighteen months and favourable mix of higher margin material handling and crane products.”