05.08.2016

Manitex goes negative

Crane and access equipment manufacturer Manitex has reported a substantial second quarter loss and lower revenues.

Total revenues for the first six months of the year were $198.6 million around 1.5 percent lower than this time last year. Last year’s pre-tax profit of $572,000 was converted to a loss this year of $583,000 due mostly to restructuring costs in the second quarter. The order book/backlog at the end of June was $63.6 million – 23 percent lower than in the same period for 2015.

In the second quarter revenues were 4.2 percent lower at $96.3 million, with a pre-tax loss of $2.4 million, compared to a profit of $439,000 last year. This due to debt restructuring and other restructuring costs. The lifting related business increased second quarter revenues by two percent to $67.1 million, with
industrial crane sales falling, while PM knuckle boom crane sales were flat overall, with growth in North America, Italy and Western Europe offset by lower sales in South America and the Middle East. Sales of material handling equipment increased year over year with increased military and container handling equipment shipments being partially offset by lower volumes of other products.

Chief executive David Langevin said: “As anticipated, the second quarter financial performance reflects continued softness in our markets although it also reflects well on our organisation's focus on controlling what we can control and on the execution of our strategic objectives for the year. During the second quarter, much as we did in the first quarter, we achieved solid gross margins considering the reduced level of demand in our markets. And, while we made good progress during the quarter in reducing our debt and working capital levels we expect to accelerate our debt reduction throughout the end of this year. Sales of non-strategic businesses, when combined with other incremental working capital and operating cash flow, may enable us to exceed our previously stated target of $45 million in debt reduction for calendar year 2016."

"We have seen improvement in ASV with a 110 basis point expansion in adjusted operating margin compared to the same quarter in 2015, along with the continued emphasis on reactivating their independent dealer network. Our PM knuckle boom crane product continues as our highest margin product with sales growth in Europe and North America offset by weakness in Latin America and the rest of the world. The straight mast market continues to run at historically low levels with a further shift in market demand to lower tonnage cranes. However, even with these headwinds we are seeing our market share for these type of products expand.”

"We operate in cyclical businesses and while the timing of the recovery is impossible to predict we remain confident that the measures we continue to take to rationalise production, lower our costs, strengthen our balance sheet, and add to our leadership position in our served markets, will provide our shareholders an excellent foundation for future growth."