12.02.2025

Snorkel slips back

US based aerial lift manufacturer Snorkel, has posted its nine month results, which show a fall in both revenues and profit.

Total revenues declined 5.4 percent to $137.3 million due to softer demand, the margins however were also badly hit causing gross profit to fall from 12.9 to 10.7 percent, while general selling and administration costs remained at similar levels to last year, leading to a pre-tax loss of $2.76 million, compared to a profit of $1.7 million at this point last year.

Snorkel does not publish its results, they were however disclosed by Tanfield, which still owns a 49 percent stake in Snorkel with Don Ahern holding the balance. The two parties are in dispute over the value of the minority stake, which was supposed to finally go to court in March, but has now been postponed again, this time until October.

Vertikal Comment

The Snorkel result is not out of place in comparison to other manufacturers, although the slow down may have kicked in a little earlier. One thing that might be having an impact on the revenues is Don Ahern’s sale of Ahern Rentals to United at the end of 2022. Ahern Rentals was, we understand, Snorkel’s largest customer.

It will be interesting to see how the fourth quarter pans out. It is still possible for the company to recover the current shortfall. But not easily.