15.02.2012

Cramo up 38.2% for the year

Finnish based international rental company Cramo has reported full year revenues up 38.2 percent to €679.9 million, with a pre-tax profit of €32.2 million a more than six fold increase over last year’s €4.8 million.

The quarter showed a similar positive upward trend with revenues of €192.9 million, 31.8 percent higher than the same quarter last year. Pre-tax profits for the period were up 22.8 percent to €10.3 million.

Total capital expenditure on rental equipment for the year was €147.5 million, compare to €53.5 million in 2010. The company says that it curbed spending in the fourth quarter in order to boost utilisation and returns and intends to be equally cautious in 2012.

Chief executive Vesa Koivula said: “Although 2011 was a challenging year, our operations developed favourably. At the beginning of the year, we expanded our operations in Central Europe by acquiring the Theisen rental services company in Germany. In June we advanced our positions in Norway and Sweden through further acquisitions.”

“Increasing economic uncertainty made it necessary to shift focus from growth to profit protection during the second half of 2011. We cut our fleet investments and put emphasis on fleet optimisation, in particular between our market areas. We also updated our contingency plans.”

“We successfully responded to market changes and achieved the objectives we had set for 2011. Our sales grew both organically and through acquisitions, profit development was particularly strong in Eastern Europe. In April, we strengthened our balance sheet and improved our gearing through a successful rights issue. The successful integration of Theisen Group helped Cramo establish a strong position in the European markets.”

“During the past few years, we have increased our modular space presence and improved the flexibility of our service network, thus minimising the impact of economic fluctuations. Outsourcing agreements also yield business stability.”