19.04.2016

Strong start for Haulotte

Haulotte has got off to a strong start to the year, with first quarter revenues jumping 17 percent on the same period last year.

First quarter revenues were € 115 million, with little impact this time from currency fluctuations. New equipment sales improved 19 percent, mainly in Europe which was 30 percent higher, and North America up 35 percent, continuing the upward trend that began last year. In the Asia-Pacific region sales fell 19 percent, due to a slowdown in the Middle-East, while South America dipped a further six percent as sales in Brazil continue to decline. Revenues from services and rental grew five percent and seven percent respectively.

The company says that based on first quarter activity and order intake, it can confirm its previous expectation of achieving revenues growth in 2016 of around five percent in 2016.

Vertikal Comment

While we do not yet have any results on from competitors, this is without doubt a good result for Haulotte, which is regaining some momentum that it appeared to have lost during the first half of last year. Last year’s first quarter was up 10 percent on 20154, BUT most of that was down currency gains, rather than greater volumes.

The company has made a great deal of progress with its new products and is in a position to sell most of its models on specification and features now, rather than price. The five percent forecast looks like a return to the days of ‘sandbagging’, although given the overall market uncertainties understandable. Barring any shocks, we would expect the company to end the year at least 10 percent up on 2015. But it is still early days of course.