21.07.2011

Ausa telehandler sales rise 71%

Spanish compact equipment manufacturer Ausa has reported a solid first half with sales of its Taurulift telehandler range up 71 percent.

The company is privately held and not obliged to issue any numbers, so it doesn’t, what it has done though is provide percent increases or decreases in place of numbers.

The company says that overall revenues in the first six months of 2011 were up 35.2 percent, while order intake climbed by 42 percent, with a significant rise in orders from the Americas and the Middle East. First-half exports expanded 58 percent, reflecting the weak Spanish market and now represent almost 73 percent of Ausa’s total revenues.

While no specifics are given, it also says that gross margins were up substantially, due according to Ausa sales manager Josep Soler, to “greater control of operations and a new incentive system for sales representatives.
The increase in margin allied to improved cost control with respect to 2010 has resulted in positive results”.

Vertikal.Net is mostly interested in the company’s telescopic handlers of course and Taurulift range, which recorded an increase in invoiced sales of 71 percent, while order intake for the three model line-up jumped 95 percent. The company attributes most of the increase the new Taurulift T144H. Sales of mast type Rough Terrain fork trucks increased by 30 percent over the same period.

Ausa claims to have “sidestepped the crisis in Spain through innovative and extremely effective strategies, focused on products and sales management and a firm commitment to internationalisation, which has boosted exports by 82 percent over the past five years.”
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Ausa has managed to 'buck' the woes of the Spanish economy

The company’s strongest rise in exports came from France - 58.3 percent and Germany -87.7 percent. Meanwhile non-European sales grew by 55.3 percent and now accounts for 14 percent of the company’s total revenues.
The company says that its home market of Spain continues to be weak, and is still falling with its own sales dropping 2.5 percent in a market which it claims fell 18 percent on the year.

Vertikal Comment

Reading a lot of percentages without the relevant numbers to which they refer is most unfulfilling – like eating a sandwich without any filling. And after all two is a 100 percent increase over one.

In spite of this this report from Ausa does provide some interesting information on how the company’s business is made up. Given that Ausa produces everything in Spain, having such a high percentage of your business relying on exports can be a dangerous game. Although Ausa could easily argue that its domestic market is now the Euro Zone and it would be right to do so. In this case exports are probably no more than 25 or 30 percent of its revenues a number which is very healthy.

So while this is all very interesting we do not know if the company sold 10 or 500 telehandlers in the first half – although we have a good idea of course which is closer. As each half yearly report appears the numbers – even in just percentage terms will of course carry more weight.

What is true is that the company has been very dynamic in adapting its strategies to cope with the changing market that it has to live within, something that fails a surprising number of other companies.