07.03.2018

Record revenues for Skyjack

Skyjack parent Linamar has published its preliminary year end numbers for 2017, with Skyjack posting strong fourth quarter revenue growth and a record breaking year.

Full year revenues for the industrial division which at this point is largely Skyjack, were c$1.12 billion up 29 percent on 2016. The result was due to strong market share gains and volumes for boom lifts in North America, Europe and Asia, plus strong market share gains and increased volumes for telehandlers in North America and higher scissor lift sales in both North America and Europe. The gains were partially offset unfavourable changes in exchange rates.

Operating profits for the year increased by a more modest 12 percent to c$162.4 million.

Moving on to the fourth quarter sales jumped 43.9 percent to c$208.2 million thanks to all of the points mentioned above along with a comparison with a lacklustre fourth quarter in 2016 and 2015. Operating profit in the quarter was 17.1 percent higher at c$28.8 million held back by higher volumes of lower margin products such as telehandlers and booms as well as the negative impact of exchange rates.

Linamar as a whole posted a record year with revenues up 14.5 percent to c$6.55 billion, with full year pre-tax profits will be around three percent higher at c$692.6 million.

Linamar chief executive Linda Hasenfratz said: “We are thrilled with another quarter of excellent top and bottom line growth despite soft markets driving us to another record year in both sales and earnings. Securing a second major e-axle program win is strategically key to helping us to build strong content in electric vehicles for the future and caps off a record year overall for new business wins for us. Strong cash flow completed the trifecta of solid performance, excellent outlook and the cash to invest in our future.”
We will update this item once we have the full annual report and numbers.

Vertikal Comment

Another excellent year from Skyjack which is busy building much needed volumes for its larger product ranges – boom lifts and telehandlers – which is critical if it is to continue to gain on the two large players in the market and keep ahead of those coming up behind.

The company is very much ‘on a roll’ at the moment with momentum continuing to grow. At this year’s ARA last month Skyjack unleashed a raft of new product and service initiatives which are likely to transform it into a serious high volume full line competitor for Genie and JLG, while keeping ahead of the Chinese and French competition that are chasing it.

Hopefully we will see even more specific numbers for Skyjack in 2018. Linamar has now completed its c$1.2 billion takeover of Canadian agricultural equipment/harvester manufacturer MacDon which will join the industrial division, making it more difficult to see the Skyjack results. Hopefully it will report the Skyjack and new agricultural operations separately.