Order growth boosts Cargotec

Sales at Cargotec were up 12% to €747 million (US$1 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2010 from the €669 million ($912 million) in the same period of 2009 and up 18% on the third quarter.

For the full year 2010 sales, at €2.575 billion ($3.5 billion), were the same as the €2.581 billion in 2009.

The figure for orders received in the fourth quarter was €716 million ($977 million), up 54% from the €464 million ($634 million) of the previous period. Orders received in 2010 grew 49% to €2.729 billion ($3.7 billion) from €1.828 billion ($2.5 billion) in 2009. The industrial and terminal division that includes Hiab and Kalmar cranes accounted for 62% of the orders while 38% were in the Marine division that includes MacGregor cranes.

In the industrial and terminal segment sales were up 29% in the fourth quarter from the same period of 2009 to €471 million from €364 million. For the full year 2010, however, sales in the segment were down 3% to €1.573 billion.

"For Cargotec 2010 was a year of new beginnings. Measures aimed at unifying our organisation began to bear fruit. While the positive development in the market environment continued into the fourth quarter, it was particularly gratifying to see also Terminal customers begin to decide on major projects. Orders received, sales and operating profit for the final quarter clearly grew year-on-year. The success of our efficiency measures is demonstrated by the rise in our operating margin for the entire 2010, to 5.5% before restructuring costs. This provides a good platform for continuing towards our strategic target of 10%," said Mikael Mäkinen, Cargotec president and CEO.

Looking ahead, 2011 sales are forecast to grow more than 10% based on estimated strong growth both in the Industrial & Terminal and Marine segments.