Q3 earnings stall at Palfinger
10 November 2008Palfinger has released results for the nine months to 30 September 2008, showing earnings before interest and tax almost static at EUR75.06m, only 2.3% on the same period last year. The company is looking to control capacity, and to compensate for declines in the cranes sector with inorganic growth in other segments
Revenue growth was driven by strong performance in the crane sector in the first half of the year. In the first half, the crane segment delivered revenues of EUR291.1m. This quarter, the segment added EUR108.3m, bringing total crane revenues for the three months to EUR399.4m.
The company said that “Results for the third quarter are always influenced by the company holiday during summer months. While in recent years the company holiday was shortened to cope with enormous demand, this year it was extended to four weeks.” This adjustment of capacity was extended with 'flexible working time models and a reduction in the number of temporary personnel'.
The company said that, “A total of around EUR58 million of this increase in revenue has been contributed by the MBB Group since the beginning of the year and by the access platform unit of Wumag since 31 July 2008. Given the currently pessimistic market environment it is likely that revenue from the declining crane business will be compensated even more strongly by inorganic growth in the hydraulic systems services segment in the fourth quarter 2008.”
The company said performance worldwide varied greatly. Spain, the UK and Italy all suffered sever market declines, while development in Germany, France and Eastern Europe 'continued to be satisfactory'. South America has become the second most important region for the company, after Europe, and North America was more stable than expected.
Overall, company revenues in the third quarter were EUR183.7m, significantly lower than previous quarters (EUR208.9m in Q1 2008; EUR214.5m in Q2). However, the impact of acquisitions meant that revenues were still EUR19.47m higher than in Q3 2007.Third quarter earnings of EUR15.4m were EUR6.9m lower than in Q3 2007's figure of EUR22.4m, a fall of around 30%.
