3Q Crane Orders Rose 22 Percent for Manitowoc
The company's CEO said the third quarter is ordinarily soft, but demand increased in multiple product categories. Third-quarter sales were $955.7 million, up 2.2 percent from a year earlier.
A 22.3 percent increase in third-quarter 2012 orders for cranes was the high point in The Manitowoc Company, Inc.'s quarterly results Nov. 5. Based in Wisconsin, the company provides crawler cranes, tower cranes, and mobile cranes for the heavy construction industry and also manufactures commercial food service equipment. Its third-quarter 2012 sales of $955.7 million were up 2.2 percent compared to a year ago, driven mainly by a 4.9 percent increase in crane sales. Crane net sales for the 2012 third quarter were $555.1 million; sales in the Americas continued to grow but were offset by lower demand in Europe and Asia.
The crane segment's backlog totaled $976 million as of Sept. 30, 2012, up 25.9 percent from $775 million in the prior-year quarter. Third-quarter 2012 orders of $582 million were 22.3 percent higher than the third quarter of 2011. "The crane order increase was particularly noteworthy, given that the third quarter is typically seasonally soft. Orders were driven by demand across multiple product categories, including rough-terrain cranes and all-terrain cranes, as well as strengthening demand in smaller-capacity crawler cranes. However, the unfavorable macroeconomic environment continues to impact many of our European and Asian markets, as well as our tower crane and large crawler crane product lines," said Glen E. Tellock, Manitowoc's chairman and chief executive officer. "While third-quarter results fell short of our expectations in some key areas, we also had several notable positives despite lingering uncertainty and continued pressure in the global macroeconomic environment. We are focused on positioning the company for long-term improvement in profitability, even in the face of modest growth. This includes enhancing our global manufacturing network, improving operational efficiency across the organization, and driving continuous product innovation. Looking to the fourth quarter, we expect to see a sequential improvement over our third-quarter results and remain committed to achieving our full-year 2012 objectives."
For the full year, the company expects crane segment revenue to be up 10-12 percent year over year.