29.10.2024

Mixed bag for Hiab

Cargotec has published its third quarter results showing lower revenues for Hiab compensated by higher sales at MacGregor.

YTD

Hiab
Hiab revenues for the nine months to the end of September were €1.23 billion down eight percent on the same period last year. Order intake however was three percent higher at €1.1 billion, leaving the order book 20 percent lower at €636 million. Operating profit for the period was four percent lower at €196.8 million.

MacGregor
MacGregor revenues were 20 percent higher at €598 million, while order intake improved 22 percent to €1738 million, leaving the order book/backlog seven percent higher at €1.05 billion. operating profit however slipped 13 percent to €21.8 million.

Third quarter

Hiab
Hiab revenues for the quarter were eight percent lower compared to the same quarter last year at €388 million. Order intake however increased 16 percent to €361 million. Operating profit for the period came in four percent lower at €59.3 million.

MacGregor
Third quarter revenues jumped 13 percent to 203 million, with order intake increasing 12 percent to €236 million. operating profit slumped 20 percent to €19.4 million.

Cargotec group
Cargotec revenues were flat at €1.83 billion, while pre-tax profit edged up very slightly to €183.9 million. Net debt at the end of September was wiped out following the divestiture of Kalmar leaving the company €64 million in the black.

Chief executive Casimir Lindholm said: “The third quarter was the seventh quarter in a row with good and stable results for Cargotec. Operational performance remained solid and there were no significant changes in the market environment which remained mixed. Expectations on lower interest rates and uncertainty in some of Hiab’s key geographies and industries continued to delay customer decision making. On the other hand, MacGregor continued to benefit from the strong ship building cycle and for the first time in Cargotec’s history, we have a net cash position.”

In Hiab, the demand has remained on a stable level since the fourth quarter of 2022. Delayed decision making continued due to expectations on lower interest rates and market uncertainty. However, we were able to book some larger key account orders which were postponed from the second quarter, boosting Hiab’s order intake. Despite lower sales, Hiab’s profitability remained on a good level, supported by successful management of inflationary pressures as well as sourcing and supply chain actions.”

“We announced in May that we had started the sales process of MacGregor, aiming to find a solution in 2024. The process has progressed according to plan and after good developments in October we target signing the deal before the year end. We are currently carving out MacGregor from Cargotec and building standalone capabilities for the business. We have also continued to prepare Hiab for its standalone future. During the third quarter, we also successfully completed the final part of the Kalmar separation in just 16 months from the demerger announcement.”

Vertikal Comment

All said and done this is solid performance from Hiab, especially in terms of order intake. It compares very well with the numbers in from Palfinger and highlights Hiab’s ongoing long term market share recovery progress in the all important loader crane market.

While it will be interesting to see how the company fares in the fourth quarter, more interesting will be how good a start to the new year both companies have.