30.01.2014

Manitou revenues trend up

Manitou saw revenues trend upwards in the fourth quarter, but it ended the year with revenues down seven percent.

Total revenues for the 12 months were €1.175 billion a fall of seven percent on 2012. Access and telehandler revenues fell five percent to €809.7 million. Demand was especially strong for the company’s access equipment which reached historical highs in 2013. €15 million of the division’s €47 million drop was due to negative exchange rate movements.

The Industrial material handling division dropped 24 percent to €123.8 million, while Compact Equipment/Gehl slipped one percent to €242.1 million.

Looking at fourth quarter revenues in the access and telehandler division saw a nine percent improvement in revenues, compared to the same quarter last year to €215.2 million, with order intake also improving.

The Industrial material handling operation continued to decline, coming in 30 percent lower at €29.5 million while Gehl slipped to 58.1million due to the late arrival of incoming rental company orders – this did however boost the year end order book.

Geographically the fourth quarter saw European sales turn the corner with Southern Europe down just two percent at €99.7 million compared to the full year where sales were down 12 percent to €392.9 million.

Northern Europe posted an 18 percent increase in the fourth quarter to €112.5 million, bringing the full year numbers to €403.9 million just three percent lower than in 2012.

The Americas saw a surprisingly high fall, with fourth quarter revenues dropping 18 percent to €57.1 million, while the full year was just one percent lower at €247.4 million.

Finally Asia Pacific slipped 16 percent in the fourth quarter to €33.4 million, while the full year was down 14 percent to €131.4 million.

The new chief executive Michel Denis said: "The revenue for the quarter is nearly the same as last year's Q4 revenue. At constant scope and exchange rates, the revenue is growing by six percent. This growth is the fruit of the strength of our Rough Terrain Handling Division business and solid control of our manufacturing operations, which permitted us to produce and deliver to our customers within tight deadlines. The increase in fourth quarter revenues allows us to partially offset the decrease recorded since the beginning of the year. 2013 revenue decreases by seven percent compared to 2012 – or just one percent at constant scope and exchange rates.”

“Our backlog increased to 7,300 units from 6,200 at the end of the third quarter and allows us to finish the year at a higher level than the end of 2012. Rental firms have already confirmed delivery needs for 2014. This phenomenon is particularly highlighted in the Compact Equipment division (Gehl), which posted fourth quarter revenues well below its traditional seasonality, but completed the year with a strong backlog.”

“At the operating level, our production resources are gradually adapting to diverse market trends in order to maintain our ability to rapidly respond to the demands. The fourth quarter revenue growth, the backlog level at year-end and our estimates for our three divisions' markets and geographic regions lead us to foresee a 2013 current operating profit of close to two percent while 2014 revenues should equal those of 2013 at constant exchange rates."

Vertikal Comment

The fourth quarter numbers do indicate a marked improvement, and if it hadn't been for the surprising drop at Gehl, the company would have been in good shape. The Industrial division has also had more of a negative impact than might have been expected, with the ending of the Toyota contract, however the underlying trend is positive and should begin to gather some steam as Manitou’s own products become better known and it broadens the range. Unless of course it decides to drop out of this market and focus on its other two divisions.

With a new chief executive in place such changes are always a possibility, however unlikely they may seem. All in all the company is finishing the year on a positive trend and one has to think it is practising some ‘sandbagging’ in its 2014 forecasts.