28.03.2018

Manitex reports

Manitex has reported its full year numbers for 2017, and restated previous years results, following issues with the reporting of certain revenues in 2016 See Manitex on notice

Full year 2017 revenues were up 23 percent to $213.1 million, while pre-tax losses were slightly reduced at $7.5 million, compared to a loss of $8 million in 2016.

The fourth quarter showed a strong pick up in momentum with sales of $64.5 million, 57 percent higher than the restated revenues for 2016, although they are roughly the same as the revenues originally reported for 2016. Pre-tax losses for the quarter were $1.2 million compared to $5.6 million in 2016.

The backlog/order book at the end of December was $62.2 million up 20 percent on 2016, but this year has got off to a strong start, with the order book/backlog jumping to $87.3 million. Net debt at the end of the year was $89.9 million, compared to $101 million at the end of 2016.

Chief executive David Langevin said: “While our restatement created a distraction concerning our 2017 financials, operationally we saw solid improvements throughout the year. Sales are up substantially in 2017 as well as adjusted operating income, EBITDA and earnings per share. Equally important was our reduction in outstanding debt, along with the substantial strengthening in the strategic direction of the Company to a point where we believe that we are now one of the premier mobile crane companies in the world.”

“Given the 40 percent increase in our backlog since December, we believe we will see a steady continuation of improving metrics as we move through 2018. Our goals for 2018 are for us to simply execute on the business levels which we see developing, increase our EBITDA percentages to a level that is much closer to our stated goal of 10 percent, use our cash flow to continue to reduce debt and potentially further prune nonstrategic assets.”

Chief operating officer Steve Kiefer added: “During the fourth quarter we saw an increase in orders and market share for our key product categories, and welcomed eight new dealer locations to the PM North American dealer network. The recovery of the straight mast crane market has strengthened during the first quarter of 2018, with industry orders approaching levels last observed during the 2012 – 2015 timeframe. Looking forward, strong market demand for our products, the build-out of the PM dealer network in North America, and solid customer acceptance of our new products position the Company well for improved revenue and profitability in 2018 and beyond.”

Vertikal Comment

It is good to See Manitex put this restatement episode behind it, so that it can focus fully on the current year which seems to have got off to a very positive start.. It still has a great deal of work to pull the various businesses together, and move back into profit, which it should manage this year.

The most positive point is that it has a great deal of potential in its PM, Oil & Steel and Valla product lines, not to mention its core Manitex truck crane and boom truck products. It also has much to do internationally, where it needs to re boot production and marketing efforts. The positive side to that story is that it has plenty of upside scope to go after.

It will be very interesting to see how the first quarter turns out.