28.01.2016

Manitowoc ends 19% down

Manitowoc Crane has published its full year results, revenues fell 19 percent with a steeper drop in profits.

Looking at the full year firs, revenues fell 19.1 percent to $1.87 billion, while operating profits declined around 76 percent to $64.3 million.

Moving on to the fourth quarter crane sales were 18.1 percent lower at $543.1 million, with the fall largely due to ongoing weakness in Rough Terrain cranes and boom trucks - partly as a result of the impact from declining oil prices. This was partially offset by strong crawler crane shipments during the period, coupled with an improvement in European sales, particularly from tower cranes, but also All Terrains.

Fourth quarter operating profits dropped over 46 percent to $24.1 million, due to lower volumes and the strong dollar diluting revenues in other currencies. The crane backlog/order book at the end of December was over 30 percent lower on the year at $513 million, however order intake during the fourth quarter improved 26 percent compared to the third quarter.
The company has also confirmed that it has closed its production facility in Brazil as it resizes the business.

New chief executive Barry Pennypacker said: “During the quarter, we saw pockets of better demand within our All Terrain category fueled by our new five-axle GMK5250L. However, the overall business remains challenged by an uncertain macro-economic environment. That said, in my first month at Manitowoc, I have had an opportunity to meet with many of our employees and customers. What I have found is a solid foundation centred around innovation and aftermarket support. There are, however, a number of areas that I believe need to be addressed to enhance our financial performance and position us to deliver profitable growth in any environment.”

Chairman and group Chief executive Kenneth Krueger added: “While we continue to push forward with our spin-off activities, the recent weakness in the credit markets has put pressure on our timeline. However, we continue to target completion of the spin-off of our Foodservice business in the first quarter of 2016”.

Vertikal Comment

These numbers could have been a good deal worse, given the trend seen in the third quarter, but it seems that things have firmed up a little. However the company needs to regain some share of the Rough Terrain market where there is a great deal more competition from the likes of Tadano, at the same time as the difficulties in the oil and gas sector have led to a softer market.

The company’s new All Terrain cranes are winning respect of buyers, which is putting Groves back into some fleets, while finding new customers. At the same time the tower crane business is continuing to rebound, while the new Crawler cranes are now appearing on site where they are likely to win converts.

Once the company sheds the Food Service business it can focus on purely on its crane business and hopefully see some stability in 2016.