Slow start for Wacker Neuson

Manufacturer Wacker Neuson reported a 2.4% year-on-year dip in first quarter revenues to €316 million, while earnings before interest and taxes fell 45.4% to €17.3 million.

The light and compact equipment specialist said it had seen challenging conditions in markets around the world, particularly in the Americas region.

CEO Cem Peksaglam said, “In North America, the ongoing slump in demand in the raw materials and energy sectors negatively impacted our business, particularly in the worksite technology field.

“South America, and Brazil in particular, continues to be hit by political and economic uncertainties and shows no signs of picking up. By contrast, demand was high in the construction sector in central and northern Europe, and southern European countries improved on the previous year’s performance.”

Europe accounted for 72% percent of overall revenues.

Meanwhile, Wacker Neuson reported strong growth in the Asia-Pacific region, where revenues almost doubled.

“Our business in Asia developed very positively, even allowing for the favourable effect of one-off items on first-quarter revenue growth and we expect these to balance out over the course of the year,” Mr Peksaglam said.

“Whereas demand for large machines is contracting overall in China, the market for our compact machinery is on a clear growth path.

“The Australian economy, which is highly dependent on raw material prices, continued to suffer from the crisis in the mining industry. Overall, the whole region increased its share of total Group revenue by 2.7 percentage points relative to the previous year to reach 5.5%.”

And Mr Peksaglam said the manufacturer was confident on full-year prospects.

“The current order situation, a positive business trend in Europe, infrastructure programs in Germany, plus the positive mood evident among many national and international customers at the Bauma trade show indicate that business over the rest of the year, in particular the second half of the year, could compensate for a weak start in the first quarter,” he said.

Wacker Neuson confirmed its 2016 revenue forecast of between €1.4 billion and €1.45 billion, which corresponds to an increase of between 2 % and 5% year-on-year.