24.07.2008

Manitou up 8%

French based telescopic handler and aerial lift manufacturer Manitou has reported an increase in first half revenues of 8.1 percent to €725 million. At constant exchange rates the increase would have been over 10 percent.

The increase was more significant than it at first appears as the company had sales of over €13 million to Case-New Holland in the first half of 2007, in an OEM deal that came to an end in the second half of last year.

Sales in France rose by 18 percent to almost €300 million while slipping back by 2.4 percent in other EU countries to €330 million. Sales to other regions of the world were up by 19.3 percent to €98 million.

Manitou says that the sharp downturn in Spain where its sales fell by €55 million to €24 million, a 70 percent fall compared to 2007. In the UK relatively flat sales translated into over 15 percent fewer Euros.

On the upside German sales jumped by 44 percent to €42 million, Benelux markets were up 89 percent to €65 million, Poland by 137 percent to €17 million and Italy improved after a poor start to the year.

Sales of telescopic handlers to the agricultural sector and strong sales of industrial handling equipment increased rapidly more than offsetting the challenges. Telehandler sales were just under €500 million a nine percent increase on last year.

Aerial lift sales were flat at €52 million.

The company’s order book increased 18 percent and is currently running at over four months of sales, which causes the group to issue a statement saying that it remains confident that it will achieve its full-year growth target of between eight percent and 10 percent.

Vertikal Comment

This is an excellent result for Manitou, and far better than it looks on the surface. What it does show is the company’s diversity of sales and distribution compared to some other telescopic handler manufacturers.

Manitou’s failure to win a significant share of the US market means that it is not suffering as much as JLG, JCB or the domestic producers from the steep fall arising from the crisis in residential construction there.

It has been though been hit hard by the fall in the housing market in Spain but appears to have compensated this by its strong position in the agricultural market in most of the rest of Europe, including France.

Manitou must also be thankful that while it has a respectable share of the worldwide telehandler rental market, it is not the leading supplier. So while rental companies in many European countries are holding off on capital expenditure while they gauge the economic trend, it is not suffering as much as JCB which is more dependant on the sector.

It now looks as though Manitou’s more cautious and careful strategy is currently serving it well. It could well be that by the end of this year, JCB’s challenge to grab clear market leadership of the telescopic handler market might be set back a year or two.