30.04.2013

Steady progress at Manitowoc

Manitowoc Crane group has reported a 7.8 percent rise in first-quarter revenues to $574.4 million, thanks to ongoing improvements in North America offset by sluggish European markets.

Operating income however climbed over 46 percent to $31.3 million during the period.

First quarter order intake almost kept pace with revenues at $569 million, but was 16 percent lower than the first quarter 2012 – possibly due to the timing of Bauma - in mid April - delaying some orders until the show. The company’s backlog at the end of March was $776 million – down 16.5 percent on the same point last year, but $20 million higher than at the start of the year.

Chief executive Glen Tellock said: “We maintained our momentum during the first quarter as our Crane segment generated solid sales growth and margin improvement through focused execution across all levels of the business, despite less than favourable macro-economic conditions.”

“New orders during the first quarter were lower than the prior year as several customers deferred placing orders until the Bauma trade show. By almost every measure, Bauma was a record-breaking event. Over 500,000 global visitors attended the seven-day show, during which we booked substantial crane orders for delivery in 2013. Customer and dealer sentiment were strong, which increases our confidence in achieving our financial performance objectives.”

Manitowoc as a whole reported revenues of $898 million 5.4 percent higher than last year, while pre-tax profits almost doubled from $9.6 million last year to $18.3 million this year thanks to the strong profit improvement in the crane business.

Vertikal Comment

Manitowoc has seen the same sort of order book softening as many other companies in the sector, but we should see this turn around by the half year point. The company had a good Bauma and is making progress in a number of areas.

The profitability picture is particularly encouraging and is a good sign of what the business can achieve once the worldwide market as a whole starts to motor again, as it most certainly will in a couple of years or so.