31.07.2007

Gehl increases market share

American telehandler manufacturer Gehl, has reported a fall in revenues for the first six months of 2007 of around four percent on the same period last year to $250 million.

In spite of this the company increased its telehandler volume by nine percent at a time when it claims North American telehandler shipments declined by 26 percent.

One factor that helped Gehl was a 23 percent increase in shipments outside of North America.

The company also reported a small improvement in gross margins to 21.8 percent, due it says, to improved purchasing and manufacturing technology. SG&A costs increased, driven it says by increased investment in Research and Development.

Net Income after tax for the first half totaled $15.3 million, a fall of three percent on the same period in 2006.

William D. Gehl, chairman and chief executive officer said: “Despite weak U.S. residential construction markets, our second quarter revenues and earnings per share were solid. Strong international markets, a successful launch of our new RS5-19 telehandler and gross margin improvement resulting from our added supply chain resources all contributed to our sound second quarter results,”

Having increased its full year forecasts in April, Gehl is now downgrading its full year revenue outlook to $465 to $485 million (Full year 2006 was $486 million) from its April forecasts of $475 to $500 million.