07.03.2012

Haulotte to close Spanish plant

Haulotte has announced its results for 2011 and confirmed that it will close its production facility in Santander, Spain.

Revenues for the full year were in line with its preliminary revenue statement at €306.9 million, up 23 percent on 2010. The company was however not quite able to break even and reported a pre-tax loss of €10.5 million, compared to a loss in 2010 of €52.2 million. It did say though that it made an operating profit in the second half of the year and expects this to carry though to 2012.

The company’s net debt as of the end of the year was €142 million, with its major credit facility due to mature in July 2013. It says that renewal discussions will start with its banking pool next spring.

For 2012 Haulotte says that it expects to achieve double digit revenue growth and a full year operating profit, thanks largely to the resumption of investment by major European rental companies.

In spite of this it flags on-going challenges it faces in Southern Europe, where markets are still slow. This is one of the reasons for its decision to close its Spanish production unit and transfer all the products manufactured at the plant to the other European production sites.
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Haulotte Santander

The 19,000 square metre Santander facility was opened in January 2007 and was initially dedicated to its ‘diversified products’ which included excavators and its telehandler range. Neither product line has done well, with the market for both collapsing shortly after the plant became fully operational- making an already tough challenge almost impossible.

Vertikal Comment

It is a shame that Haulotte did not manage to squeeze out a small profit, it may well have taken some charges for this year which kept its results negative. It will though be well placed for 2012 and should benefit from both higher volumes and higher prices.

The closure of the Santander plant makes good sense, it was conceived during the heady days of breakneck growth, which were beginning to look a little suspect as production started to ramp up.

The company has more than enough capacity in its other facilities to cope with the anticipated growth over the next two to three years and when it needs to consider more production space it may well look to adding it in the developing world, rather than Southern Europe.