Turning around at Terex

Terex Corporation finished 2017 with a strong fourth quarter where net sales were US$ 1,063.6 million, up 9 percent on the $974.7 million in the same period a year earlier.

“The fourth quarter marked an excellent finish to an important year for Terex,” commented John Garrison, Terex Corporation president and CEO. “We increased operating margins, bookings and backlog in every segment and significantly improved earnings per share.”

For the full year 2017 Terex Corporation sales were $4,363.4 million, down 1.8 % from the 4,443.1 million of 2016. The decline was attributed to the sale of non-core businesses and softness in the mobile cranes business.

At Terex Cranes, full year 2017 sales were US$ 1,194 million, down 6.3 per cent on the $1,1274.5 million of 2016. Restructuring featured strongly in the segment during 2017. In the fourth quarter net sales “were essentially flat versus 2016, while the business was profitable for the most recent three quarters,” Terex said. Order backlog was up 70 %, the company said.

Steve Filipov, Terex Cranes president, said, “We will be launching innovative new products throughout the year. The global crane markets have stabilised, and we see pockets of growth. We plan to improve productivity on higher volumes and better operational execution in 2018.”