Demand for Cranes Drives Manitowoc's Third Quarter Performance

November 5, 2007 • Last week, the Manitowoc Co., Manitowoc, Wis., reported that strong global demand for cranes drove the company's third quarter financial results. For the quarter, net sales totaled $1 billion, an increase of 29 percent from the third quarter of 2006. Reported earnings per diluted share were $0.59 for the third quarter of 2007 compared to $0.40 for the same time last year.

 

Third-quarter 2007 net sales in the Crane segment increased 39 percent to $812.3 million, MCG's 26th consecutive quarter of improved year-over-year results. Operating earnings for the third quarter of 2007 increased 48 percent to $112.3 million, from $76.1 million in the same period last year. Backlog totaled $2.7 billion at September 30, 2007, an increase of 28 percent from June 30, 2007 and nearly double the level achieved at September 30, 2006.

 

“Demand for our full line of lifting solutions continues to be strong in all regions and for nearly all product lines,” said Glen Tellock, Manitowoc's president and chief executive officer. “Our view of the industry is that demand will remain strong through the end of the decade, with the potential for additional infrastructure and industrial projects in emerging markets to push that window of demand out even farther.”

 

According Tellock, the strength and depth of demand in emerging markets gives the company the confidence to make meaningful additions to its crane production capacity on a global basis. “Customer feedback, coupled with our own market research, shows that the demand for lift solutions in emerging markets will continue to outpace current industry production capacity for several years,” he added.

 

In recent months, the Manitowoc Crane Group has launched several production capacity expansion initiatives, including a 57,000-square foot expansion of the company's crawler crane manufacturing facility in Manitowoc, Wis.; expansion and process enhancements at the company's Port Washington, Wis., specialty machining facility to enhance crawler crane capacity; entrance into the India market with the acquisition of Shirke Construction Equipment, a long-time Potain tower crane supplier; and better access to the Eastern European markets through development of a manufacturing facility in Slovakia.

 

“Maintaining our global leadership position during this time of robust demand will remain an important strategic objective,” Tellock said. “Our investments in global capacity expansion are aimed at enhancing our ability to deliver and support high-quality products around the world in a timeframe that meets customer requirements.”