29.04.2024

Steady start for Manitou

French telehandler and aerial lift manufacturer Manitou has reported its first quarter revenues, which were marginally higher than for the same period last year.

Total revenues increased three percent to €685 million, broken down as follows:

New product sales - €583 million +4%
Parts and service revenues - €103 million - No change
Total revenues - €583 million +3%

Order intake for new equipment nosedived from €455 million in the first quarter last year to just €186 million this year, a drop of almost 60 percent.
The order book/backlog at the end of March was 45 percent lower at €1.88 billion, compared to last year’s figure of €3.4 billion.

Sales by geographic region

Southern Europe €238 million +4%
Northern Europe €263 million +8%
The Americas €124 million -9%
Asia Pacific €60 million +6%
Total €685 million +3%

The company is expecting full year revenues to come it at roughly the same level as in 2023 - €2.87 billion - with an operating profit of at least 6.5 percent of revenues - thus around €187 million.

Chief executive Michel Denis said: "First quarter revenues recorded an increase of 3% compared with the first quarter of 2023. This development was achieved in an environment of slowing markets. In the North American market, our business plan has to contend with a growing wait and see attitude among customers and a very gradual ramp-up of our operations. On the other hand, European markets turned out to be more dynamic than expected. With the cancellation of allocations for our customers and the reopening of order intake for all our dealers, back to normal for all our operations has almost been achieved.”

“Our order intake is experiencing the opposite phenomenon to the one we experienced between 2020 and 2022, when the lengthening of delivery times pushed customers to anticipate their orders to secure their future revenues and led us to an order book of almost two years of activity. Today, the shortening of delivery times enables them to order at short deadlines, a phenomenon amplified by the low visibility of markets. As a result, our order book now represents around nine months of activity.”

“All these elements enable us to confirm our expectation of stable revenues in 2024 compared with 2023 and recurring operating profit of over 6.5% of revenues."

Vertikal Comment

While these results look distinctly lacklustre, they are mostly a product of the recent supply chain challenges. Last year was a catch up year with revenues jumping 22 percent as product began to ship normally again, helping reduce the massive backlog that had built up. Having another double digit growth on top of that was always unlikely, although possible. The market is definitely looking slower due to economic uncertainty. This is unlikely to change before year end, but if all goes well, 2025 ought to be another strong year of growth. Manitou has the potential for another surge in revenues, as it expands its product range and its new facilities come on stream, boosting capacity.

All said and done, a fair result. Full profit and loss results will be released in a couple of months, or at the half year point.