Americas continue to drive Manitowoc growth

Third-quarter 2012 net sales in Manitowoc’s crane segment were US$555.1 million, up around 5% from $529.4 million in the third quarter of 2011. The increase was driven primarily by continued growth in the Americas region, which was offset by lower demand in Europe and Asia, Manitowoc said.

Crane segment operating earnings for the third quarter of 2012 were $26.5 million, compared to $26.1 million in the same period last year. This resulted in an operating margin of 4.8% for the third quarter of 2012, down from 4.9% in the same period in 2011. Third-quarter 2012 earnings were affected by lower sales in EMEA and China, customer financing reserves in Asia, plus ongoing investments in new product engineering, Brazil ramp-up efforts, and ERP implementation, Manitowoc said.

Order backlog in cranes was $976 million at the end of September, up 26% from $775 million in the prior-year quarter. Third-quarter 2012 orders of $582 million were 22.3 percent higher than the third quarter of 2011, Manitowoc said.

“The crane order increase was particularly noteworthy, given that the third quarter is typically seasonally soft. Orders were driven by demand across multiple product categories, including rough-terrain cranes and all terrain cranes, as well as strengthening demand in smaller-capacity crawler cranes. However, the unfavourable macroeconomic environment continues to impact many of our European and Asian markets, as well as our tower crane and large crawler crane product lines,” said Glen Tellock, Manitowoc chairman and chief executive officer.

For the whole Manitowoc Company, Q3 sales were $955.7 million, up 2.2% on the $935.4 million in the third quarter of 2011. The growth in crane segment sales was the primary driver.

“While third-quarter results fell short of our expectations in some key areas, we also had several notable positives despite lingering uncertainty and continued pressure in the global macroeconomic environment. We are focused on positioning the company for long-term improvement in profitability, even in the face of modest growth. This includes enhancing our global manufacturing network, improving operational efficiency across the organization, and driving continuous product innovation,” commented Tellock.