30.04.2019

Challenging first quarter for Genie

Terex AWP / Genie has posted its first quarter results with lower revenues and profits.

Total sales for the quarter were roughly flat, declining just over one percent to $727.9 million, due to a slow start to the quarter, made worse by extreme weather closing the Redmond plant earlier in the year. The order intake continued apace however with the backlog/order book rising 25 percent to $1.1 billion compared to this time last year, which itself was 43 percent higher than the previous year. Operating profits slipped 15 percent to $59.6 million, due to the above mentioned issues disrupting production and shipments.

Genie president Matt Fearon said: “The global markets for aerial work platforms remain generally stable at healthy levels, and the North American utility market remains strong. The Genie team is carrying great momentum going into the second quarter, thanks to the excitement around the innovations we announced at The ARA Show and bauma. We launched the Genie Lift Connect telematics solution that will convert data into actionable information for our customers, helping them to increase their ROI on Genie equipment. We also showcased a complete line of our new Genie Xtra Capacity booms from 40 ft to 135 ft, showing our customers that Genie is leading the industry with product innovations.”

“The Terex Utilities team continues to execute well in a stable market, and we are already seeing cross-selling benefits now that Utilities is part of Terex AWP. We are better leveraging our network of service centers across the country to improve service for our customers.”


Terex group chief executive John Garrison added: “Overall we had a strong first quarter. Our improving financial results, with adjusted operating margins greater than 9% and adjusted EPS increasing over 50% from what we presented in our Q1 earnings release in May 2018, clearly demonstrate the impact of executing our Focus, Simplify and Execute to Win strategy.”

“Aerial Work Platforms started slower than last year but gained momentum throughout the quarter. Revenue and operating margin were impacted by severe weather across the United States including a week long closure of AWP’s principal manufacturing and distribution facilities in Washington state. Additionally, the strength of the U.S. dollar, particularly against the Euro, represented a headwind in the quarter. AWP is well positioned heading into the second quarter with $1.1 billion of backlog.”

“The previously announced agreement to sell the Demag Mobile Cranes business remains on track to close mid year, subject to government regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. We implemented our new two segment structure and are moving forward with plans to further simplify our corporate organisation and reduce general and administrative expenses. As a result of our first quarter performance, we now expect full year net sales of approximately $4.7 billion.”

Vertikal Comment

It is hard to really compare this result with last year due to the adverse issues affecting production and the fact that it now includes the utilities business. Order intake is clearly reasonable, and the second quarter looks set to compensate for the slower first quarter. So perhaps best to wait and see how the half year looks.

The company is clearly in a good place to catch up over the year and finish well ahead of last year’s revenues of $2.5 billion.