30.10.2023

Positive quarter for Manitou

French Telehandler and aerial lift manufacturer Manitou has released its third quarter revenue numbers.

Year to Date
Total revenues for the nine months to the end of September were €2.06 billion, up 26 percent on the same period last year. Order intake was only €216 million, less than half of last year’s level, this was partly due to the company refusing to add more dealer stock orders to the current backlog, as it looks to reduce lead times. As a result, the order book, backlog if you prefer, at the end of September was 26 percent lower at €2.72 billion.

The nine month revenues were broken down as follows:
New equipment sales €1.76 billion +31%
Parts and services €297 million +3%
Total €2.06 billion +26%

Geographic breakdown
Southern Europe €686 million +24%
Northern Europe €748 million +24%
The Americas 448 million +46%
Asia Pacific€175 million +5%
Total2.06 billion +26%

Third quarter
Total revenues for the third quarter increased 14 percent to €656 million This due to an easing of the company’s supply chain issues, which has accelerated shipments from the order book.

Third quarter revenues were made up as follows:
New equipment sales €559 million +17%
Parts and services €97 million -2%
Total €656 million +14%

Geographic breakdown
Southern Europe €214 million +15%
Northern Europe €240 million +10%
The Americas 144 million +35%
Asia Pacific€59 million -8%
Total656 million +14%

Full year forecast The company is now forecasting that full year revenues will come in roughly 20 percent above that recorded in 2022. Which equates to around €2.83 billion. That suggests that the fourth quarter shipments will be around 20 percent higher than the average of the first three quarters.

Chief executive Michel Denis said: "The group's activity was very sustained in the third quarter, enabling us to achieve 26% growth for the first nine months compared with September 2022. The slowdown in construction and, to a lesser extent, agriculture markets is strengthening in Europe. Furthermore, our determination to restore shorter delivery times has led us to leave order intake beyond 2024 closed to dealer networks, resulting in low order intake for the quarter and a decrease in our order book, which should continue to decline in the coming quarters. Taken together, these factors enable us to confirm our expectation of annual revenue growth of around 20 percent.”

Vertikal Comment

While this is another positive set of numbers from Manitou, it is hard to get a good feel for the underlying trends, thanks to the restraints the company has understandably put in place when it comes to booking prospective stock orders, which can inflate backlogs at time like this only to evaporate in the event of a downturn.

The company is though clearly making progress across the board and barring a steep recession in the new year, we can expect to see it break through the €3 billion barrier.

Another positive result.