28.07.2009

Manitowoc crane down 32%

Manitowoc has reported its first half results which show crane revenues falling 32 percent to $1.035 billion, while operating income slipped 65 percent to $106 million.

The second quarter showed a further softening compared to last year than the first, with sales falling 39 percent to $652 million while operating income was $49.5 million, 70 percent lower than from the same period last year.

Excluding the negative impact of foreign currency exchange, second-quarter sales and operating earnings were down 31 percent and 62 percent, respectively.

The crane order book as of the end of June was $901 million, a decrease of 36 percent from the $1.397 billion backlog at the end of March. However the company says that it has seen stabilisation in the form of net positive order flow, although “the magnitude of new orders remains below the quarterly shipment levels.”

Manitowoc’s chief executive Glen Tellock said: "Obviously, crane demand continues to be weak across most of our markets,” "The exceptions include portions of Asia, Latin America, and Africa. We are also encouraged that overall new orders are continuing to exceed cancellations in terms of both unit and dollar volumes."

The Manitowoc group as a whole, reported revenues for the six months down just over five percent to $2.06 billion, with a pre-tax loss of $689, compared to a pre-tax profit of $302 million last year. The loss was primarily due to a $700 million write down of assets during the first quarter.

Second quarter sales were down 13 percent to $1.03 billion while pre-tax profits were $1.2 million compared to 169 million in 2008.

Vertikal Comment

This was not a bad result at all, especially given the company’s strong position in the tower crane and Rough Terrain markets, both of which have been hit the hardest of all crane sectors.

In fact on the surface Manitowoc has outperformed Terex Cranes in terms of limiting the revenue declines, and given the strong position that Terex has in the All Terrain and big crawler crane markets, both of which have remained relatively strong, indicate what a solid performance this is from Manitowoc.