02.08.2008

Liebherr Ehingen up 18.4%

The Liebherr group has published its final full year numbers for 2007 with sales reaching new records for most, if not all, divisions.

Mobile crane sales increased by 18.4 percent to €1.6 billion ($2.5 billion) while the construction cranes – largely tower cranes and duty cycle crawlers - and mixing group saw revenues jump 28.4 percent to €911 million ($1.4 billion).

The Liebherr maritime cranes division, increased its sales to €539 million ($839 million) a rise of 27.4 percent on 2006.

Group revenues climbed by almost 16 percent to €7.5 billion ($11.6 billion) with construction equipment representing 66.7 percent of that at just under €5 billion ($7.77 billion)

Geographic breakdown

Western Europe remains the Liebherr’s largest sales region with revenues rising by 13 percent to €4,284.0 million ($6.7 billion) or 57 percent of the groups business. Liebherr says that Germany, France and Spain showed particularly strong growth in 2007.

In Eastern Europe sales revenues were up 32 percent €751.9 million. The main growth coming from Russia, with Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic and Bulgaria also growing at above average levels.

In America, revenues climbed 22 percent to just over €1 billion ($1.59 billion) with sharp rises in the United States, Brazil and Canada which were already Liebherr’s largest markets.

In the Middle East sales jumped almost 39 percent to €352 million ($548 million) on the back of strong developments in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the company’s two largest markets in the region.

In the Far East/Australasia region, revenues fell by 3.5 percent €724 million ($1.2 billion) due to the non repeat of some major orders in 2006. Singapore, the Philippines and Hong Kong continued to increase but did not compensate for downturns in South Korea, Australia and Japan.

In Africa sales were up almost 32 percent to €359 million ($559 million), with South Africa the largest market,

Investment.

Liebherr increased its capital expenditure by over 33 percent to €546 million ($850 million. Most of this went on the expansion and renewal of production facilities and further development of its international sales and service network.

The Liebherr Group workforce climbed 12.6 percent during 2007 to a total of 29,660 employees as of December 2007.

In terms of profits, Liebherr says that it made a “surplus” of €510 million ($794 million) or 6.8 percent of sales, an increase of 23 percent on 2006. It is not clear from the bulleting issued by Liebherr if this refers to pre-tax or net profit. One assumes that it is newt profit after tax.

2008

Liebherr says that it’s first half revenues increased by almost 11 percent to €3.9 billion ($6 billion) with sales of construction equipment growing at a faster pace than its other divisions.

Based on its first half sales the company is forecasting full year growth in 2008 in the region of 10 percent. It does say though that negative exchange-rat volatility and rising prices for raw materials and energy will prevent earnings from growing at the same level.

Vertikal Comment

Liebherr advances year on year like an unstoppable machine, the company has stepped up its pace when it comes to cranes which should keep it comfortably ahead of its three main rivals – Manitowoc, Terex and Tadano without the need to count marine cranes in the mix.

As it moves through 2008 the company is adding additional capacity at its Ehingen plant, particularly for crawler cranes and continuing to invest in new products and technology. With order books well into 2010, 2008 looks set to be another record year for the company’s crane business.