25.04.2019

Strong first quarter for Manitou

Manitou has reported a substantial jump in first quarter revenues in both Europe and the Americas.

Total revenues for the period were 22 percent higher than in the same quarter last year at €562 million – a new record. Within this the Material Handling division – mostly telehandlers and aerial work platforms – achieved revenues of €397 million up 23 percent on last year, while Compact Equipment – largely Gehl – saw sales improve 18 percent to €84 million – a third of which is due to exchange rate gains, and finally the spare parts and services division managed to lift revenues 19 percent to €80 million, thanks in part to higher sales of replacement parts and used equipment sales.

Geographically European sales increased more than 26 percent to €420 million representing almost 75 percent of all sales. Of this Southern Europe which includes France posted the highest growth, jumping 36 percent to €214 million. While Northern Europe which includes the UK, Germany, Benelux and the Nordic region sales increase 18 percent to €206 million. Revenue from the Americas was 20 percent higher at €92 million, driven by higher sales to rental companies, while Asia Pacific was the only region to report a decline, with sales falling six percent to €49 million.
One area of concern was order intake, which fell 35 percent to €363 million, possibly driven by shorter lead times on some of its more popular products, and higher order intake in the fourth quarter. At the end of March however the order book/backlog was two percent higher on the year at €884 million a new record.

Chief executive Michel Denis said: "The first quarter was achieved in a context that remained favourable across all markets and geographies. Our customers' requests are still well aligned for the period. The level of order intake in quarter one rebalances the record order intake we achieved in the last quarter of 2018. The continued high production rates have led us to reduce our order book and to limit the impact of anticipating order intake that we had seen in 2018. This trend should continue in the coming quarters and should allow us to regain a more normative depth of the book of about three to five months of activity. I am pleased with this very good start for the year and confirm our outlook for 2019, both in terms of revenue and expected profitability".

The company will publish its full accounts, including profits in June.

Vertikal Comment

Manitou has been ‘cooking on gas’ for a while now and has gained some real momentum. The company is holding its forecast of 15 percent revenue growth in 2019, which will take total revenues to more than €2.1 billion, if all continues as now though we would expect to see the company come in closer to €2.25 billion, with a strong improvement to its bottom line.