Compact drop

US: Ingersoll Rand says sales by its compact equipment subsidiary Bobcat were down -20% in the third quarter of the year, compared to the same period in 2005. Unusually high orders in Q3 last year - related to the clean-up following Hurricane Katrina - are partly to blame. However, Ingersoll Rand says there has been a wider “sharp deterioration” in the North American compact equipment market.