01.11.2007

Manitowoc crane up 41%

Manitowoc has posted its third quarter results which show the crane business now represents almost 80 percent of the group’s revenues and almost 82 percent of its profits.

Revenues from the Crane group were $2.3 billion, an increase of 41 percent on the same period of 2006. Operating income meanwhile jumped by 60 percent to $324 million.

The company as a whole reported revenues of $2.89 billion for the nine months, an increase of 34 percent on last year. Meanwhile net earnings leapt 94 percent to $237 million.

Manitowoc crane group’s order book was $2.7 billion as of the end of September an increase of 28 percent from the end of June and nearly double what it was this time last year. And equal to over nine months production.

Glen Tellock, Manitowoc's president and chief executive officer said: "Strong global demand for lifting equipment continues to support the company's outstanding performance, and we believe that the fundamental drivers of this demand will remain intact for an extended period.”

“The traditional lifting markets of North America and Western Europe continue to perform as expected in this current cycle. It is the strength and depth of demand in the emerging markets that gives us the confidence to make meaningful additions to our crane production capacity on a global basis.”

“Customer feedback, coupled with our own market research, shows that the demand for lift solutions in emerging markets will continue to outpace current industry production capacity for several years."

Vertikal Comment

Another set of sparkling results from Manitowoc boosted by the strong crane market and the fact that the company appears to be adding capacity and ramping up more rapidly than its principle competitors.

Manitowoc crane should easily sail past the $3 billion revenue mark for 2007 and its backlog is strong enough to ensure that next year is better still.

Tellock’s challenge will be to find ways to grow the food and marine business in order to maintain any credible diversity for the group. Shareholders must surely be asking why the company continues to persevere with the Marine business rather than concentrate on just two disparate sectors.