Haulotte's sales drop 61% in H1

Haulotte's total sales were 61% lower in the first half of 2009 than in the same period in 2008: equipment sales were down 69%, while rental and servicing each dropped by a more modest 11%.

Haulotte said, "Despite intense commercial efforts that enabled Haulotte Group to maintain its market share, 2009 first-half sales amounted to €99.8 million compared to €258.7 million in the same period in 2008." The company was able to report stable revenue outside Europe of €18.5 million compared to €18.2 million but the integration of BilJax failed to offset a shortfall in European sales that declined to €69.4 million compared to €240.4 million in 2008.

Haulotte has reduced its fixed costs by over 25% - not including the BilJax business - to 32.1 million euros. A fall in the sales margin of €60 million due to lower sales volumes and €14 million provisions on current assets contributed to an operating loss of €28.4 million for the first half year.

Haulotte said, "Continued weakness in the worldwide market and a confirmation of the wait-and-see approach adopted by many rental custmers in an economic environment that remains very challenging, makes it particularly difficult to propose reliable forecasts for the 2009 full year."

Haulotte plans to continue to reduce fixed costs and optimise the management of working capital requirements which has helped the company stabilise inventory and net debt in the first half of the year.

As of 30 June Haulotte reported that it had "drawn from all available lines of its syndicated loan and has liquid assets of €70 million. Not all the financial ratios of our loan agreement will be met at 30 June 2009 and discussions have been initiated with our banking partners to negotiate new terms for this facility.