Atlas Copco pulls out of Intermat

Atlas Copco has decided not to exhibit at the Intermat exhibition in Paris in April and said the decision covered both its Atlas Copco and Dynapac businesses.

"A trade show like Intermat requires extensive resources to attend, both in terms of money and people...", said the company in a press statement, "With this in mind, Atlas Copco estimates it can bring more benefits to customers by reallocating the effort spent on Intermat and focusing on more targeted activities."

The Atlas Copco announcement underlines the pressure that construction equipment manufacturers are under to reduce costs in the face of recession in some of their largest markets. Atlas Copco is not alone in its decision, with other high-profile withdawals including Terex Corp (and Genie Industries), Sandvik and Metso Minerals.

Despite this, the Intermat exhibition - taking place in Paris, France on 20 - 25 April - will be the world's premier construction equipment showcase in the world this year, with over 1160 exhibitors and visitor numbers - at the last edition in 2006 - of over 200000.

The show will be a major attrraction to rental companies, and IRN will be providing a preview of the event in its Jan-Feb issue followed by a full show Guide in March and a final 'late news' round-up in the April issue