Manitex which also owns PM, Oil & Steel and Valla Cranes has reported a 10 percent fall in full year revenues to $288.96, with a pre-tax loss of $16.57 million compared to a loss of $6.97 million in 2015.
The lifting business posted an 11 percent drop in revenues to $173.0 million, due to lower sales of Manitex boom trucks to the energy market and lower sales of PM loader cranes. Additionally the division sold fewer large capacity cranes, resulting in lower margins and an operating loss of $1.07 million compared to a profit of $72,000 last year. The ASV division saw revenues decline 11 percent due to a 50 percent reduction in sales to CAT, but managed to maintain profitability due to increased higher margin sales to distributors.
In the fourth quarter, group revenues were 14 percent lower at $65 million with a pre-tax loss of $7.97 compared to a loss of $5.67 million last year. The Lifting division saw revenues plummet 23 percent to $37.3 million, however order intake improved significantly in the final quarter, boosting the backlog 91 percent to $51.9 million, but coming too late to have any impact on this year’s results.
Chief executive David Langevin said: “As we have consistently indicated throughout the year, demand in the bulk of the industrial equipment markets we serve remained at very low levels in 2016, which resulted in a drop-off in sales throughout our product lines at Manitex. However, we have made excellent progress in transforming the company, as we took steps that would optimise our margin profile and reduce our debt. These steps included the divestiture of CVS Ferrari and Liftking, the continued rebuild of ASV, and cost reduction initiatives which saved us nearly $11 million in 2016, ahead of plan for the second consecutive year.”
“These actions during the transitional year of 2016 have positioned us well to take advantage of the strengthening backlog which as we have reported, is up 91 percent since September, and give us optimism that we can recapture what we estimate to be an incremental $175 million in peak-level revenues in our remaining crane businesses. As we scale up, and layer our production to meet demand, we are targeting EBITDA margins in the 10 percent-plus range, which is what we have historically experienced in the crane business, unencumbered by the lower margin materials handling businesses that are no longer part of the enterprise. We continue to manage our growth conservatively, and not put undue stress on our balance sheet, and are cautiously optimistic that we will see improvements in our financial results as we gradually come out of a multi-year cyclical downturn.”
“We enter 2017 a more focused company with an increasing global presence in the mobile crane markets and anticipate improving financial performance throughout 2017. We are currently planning our straight mast crane production out into the second half of this year and retain a product portfolio that we believe is well-positioned for a recovery in our niche markets.”
