03.11.2014

Manitex books new orders

Manitex has announced $17 million of new orders for specialised cranes helping maintain its order book above $100 million.

The US based crane and port handling company, which will report its third quarter results later this week, says that the orders are mostly for larger higher margin cranes and that it will begin building them before year end.

The orders, the details of which have not been revealed, also include options to add further follow on units.

Chief executive David Langevin said: “Orders in the third quarter were as expected, and we anticipate reporting a book to bill of approximately one in our third quarter report. Also as expected, production in the third quarter was primarily in the low margin smaller tonnage equipment which pressured overall margins for the third quarter. However, with orders received in the third quarter and these orders announced today, our backlog has returned to a more favourable product mix for the fourth quarter and start of next year, which will result in stronger margins in the fourth quarter and beyond.”

"The backlog that we will be reporting with our Q3 earnings report does not include these units. We have consistently identified, acquired and invested in niches that we believe provide growth opportunities for our investors, and remain confident that we are executing well and will be able to continue doing so, subject to market forces, some which are out of our control.”

Vertikal Comment

This announcement appears more to do with preparing investors for a tough third quarter news than celebrating a batch of decent orders. With the boom truck market struggling at the moment Manitex has done well up until now and has plenty of opportunities going forward, as long as it can effectively absorb and manage its latest acquisitions.

This includes turning both PM/Oil & Steel and Valla around and digesting the recent ASV transaction with Terex. Early indications from Valla, which was completed at the end of last year, is that Manitex has injected a good blast of fresh air into the business, and this ought to start translating into some substantial revenue additions, and higher profits. The PM deal was announced in the summer and is expected to close shortly.

Manitex has come a long way in a relatively short period of time, and if it can pull the latest deals together should do very well over the next few years, making it a major player in the lifting market.