22.07.2024

Flat first half for Alimak

Swedish international hoist and mastclimber group Alimak has reported a flat first half, in both sales and order intake.

First Half
Total revenues for the six month to the end of June were SK3.54 billion (€304.8 million) up 0.4 percent on the same period last year, which was a record first half. Order intake declined 3.7 percent to SK3.52 billion (€302.9 million)
Pre-tax profits came in at SK364 million (€31.3 million) six percent higher than last year.

The YTD revenues are made up as follows.
Construction:
Revenues: SK797 million (€73 million) +43%
Order intake: SK938 million(€79.5 million) +40%
Operating profit: SK110 million (€13.2 million) +49%

Façade Access:
Revenues: SK981 million (€84.5 million) +01%
Order intake: SK787 million (€67.7 million) -15%
Operating profit: SK95 million(€8.2 million) +17.5%

Industrial:
Revenues: SK759 million (€65.3 million) +16.4%
Order intake: SK770 million (€66.3 million) +3.4%
Operating profit: SK188 million (€16.2 million) +22%

Wind:
Revenues: SK347 million (€29.9 million) +2.5
Order intake: SK377 million (€32.5 million) -5%
Operating profit: SK69 million (€5.9 million) +10%

Height Safety Solutions:
Revenues: SK708 million (€60.96 million) -4%
Order intake: SK689 million (€59.3 million) -1.5%
Operating profit: SK130 million (€11.2 million) -16%

Second quarter
Revenues came in slightly above last year’s levels at SK181 billion (€155.5 million) up 1.2 percent, while order intake was flat at SK1.79 billion (€154.6 million). Pre-tax profit however improved five percent to SK186 million (€16 million)

Chief executive Ole Kristian Jødahl said: “We continue to execute on our profitable growth strategy in a market environment that remains challenging. The market for high buildings in the US is very slow as a result of the market uncertainty caused by high interest rates and the upcoming US election. The construction market also remains challenging globally, but we see significant business opportunities beyond the current market headwind. As a group ,order intake and revenue is in line with last year but with increase profits. This confirms that our New Heights strategy continues to serve us well.”

“Our strong customer focus and investment in sales resources continue to drive growth. The Industrial division is a good example as the expansion of our sales organisation in France, Poland and South America is generating positive effect in the quarter. Further to this, our key account approach in the port segment has resulted in strong growth for ship-to-shore crane lifts, both new and refurbished.”

“Another important part of our strategy is to invest in technology leadership, where we focus on increasing our customer’s productivity, reducing their total cost of ownership and making our products the safest and most environmentally friendly solutions in the industry. By integrating digital services with our physical products and focusing on user behaviour and training, we can further enhance the services surrounding our products, making their use even safer. This is a key focus area for all divisions, where we see increased interest from our customers.”

“Although some of our markets continue to be challenging, the high inflation finally starts to come down globally. As lower interest rates materialise, we expect the investment sentiment to gradually become more positive which would be beneficial to the Façade Access and Construction divisions. We are confident that we are well positioned to capitalise on the positive effects that will follow.”

Vertikal Comment
The results are a bit of a mixed bag, but improving margins and higher profits are clearly a theme running through most of the divisional results.

The company is also reducing its leverage and overall making progress, it will, of course need to keep its eye on those declining revenues and order books, in case they are hiding more than just a temporary slowing. To be far the half year and quarterly comparisons are against record periods a year ago, so not quite as sluggish as they may at first appear.

All in all a neutral sort of result.