08.08.2024

Slower quarter for Manitowoc

Manitowoc Crane has reported its first half and second quarter results, which show a small drop in revenues and profits.

Year To Date
Total revenues for the six months to the end of June declined around five percent on the same period last year to $1.06 billion. Partly due to the impact of exchange rates and partly to a slow down in sales of both tower cranes and mobiles.

Order Intake for the six months was 8.5 percent lower than last year at $982.5 million, leaving the Backlog/Order book at the end of June at $836 million, a reduction of around 19 percent on this time last year.

Pre-tax profit for the six months was 9.6 million compared to $35.7 million a year ago. Entirely due to the to $37.1 million drop in revenues, plus a an additional $2.6 million of restructuring charges compared to the previous year.

Second Quarter

Revenues for the three months to the end of June dipped 6.8 percent to $562.1 million, due to the reasons already mentioned, while intake plummeted 22 percent to $428.4 million. Pre-tax profit came in at $3.2 million, compared to $15 million last year.

Full year Outlook
As a result of the fourth quarter dip in order intake the company has reduced its full year forecasts slightly, reducing revenues from $2.3 to $2.37 billion at the start of the year to $2.18 to $2.2 billion. A reduction of around five percent.

Chief executive Aaron Ravenscroft said: “During the second quarter, we faced a variety of operational issues which led to lower-than-anticipated results. In addition, the Tower Crane business in Europe remained a headwind to our results. Order intake was sluggish for mobile cranes in Europe and North America. Mobile customers have been slow to commit to new cranes in the face of the uncertainties associated with the upcoming U.S. election and the continued higher interest rate environment. Looking at the balance of the year, we expect weaker demand to continue. As a result, and with a focus on inventory reductions to generate free cash flow, we took actions to adjust our build schedules in the second half. We have updated our full year guidance accordingly.”

“’Cranes+50’ is the driving force in our transformation as a standalone crane company. Since its launch, our non new machine sales have grown 34%, expanding our higher margin, recurring revenue streams. We remain focused on continuous improvement through The Manitowoc Way and growing our aftermarket through Cranes+50 to drive long term shareholder value.”

Vertikal Comment

These numbers are a little worrying it must be said, however if you look at the numbers on an historical basis the picture looks a little rosier. Although we might be in for a bumpy six months before things start to look up, much depends on interest rates and the result of the November elections of course.

Infrastructure spending in the US is still gather pace and there are still plenty of aging cranes in the country that will need replacing. The future of the oil & gas industry will also play a role of course, but so will wind and alternatives.

At the moment the company is forecast full year revenues to be fairly close to 2023 levels, which were up 10 percent on 2022, while a larger percent of the revenues now come from higher margin parts and services – so not all gloomy – there are rays of sunshine peaking through.