Demag's numbers prop up Terex

Terex Corporation's sales increased 59% to $928m in the first quarter of 2003 and it recorded a net profit of $12.5m, compared with a net loss of $107.2m in the first quarter of 2002.

The company also managed to reduce its net debt by $100m during the period.

Were it not for the acquisition of Demag, crane sales would have been down more than 30%, reflecting the weak market for hydraulic mobile cranes and lattice boom cranes in the North American markets. However, with Demag, net sales in the Terex Cranes group for the first quarter of 2003 increased $102.8m to $237.9m "Our global presence has clearly helped balance our performance in the first quarter," said Terex Cranes president Fil Filipov. "Although the North American market remains depressed for mobile telescopic and lattice boom cranes, we had success in other markets to partially offset this. Our results were favourably impacted by the inclusion of Demag for the quarter and the benefit Demag had on our PPM branded cranes that were integrated into the Demag sales organisation. In addition, Italy and Spain remained strong markets and we had some success in the UK and Asia-Pacific region." Filipov added: "In this difficult environment, we continue to manage the business for cash. In particular, we have been aggressive in converting used equipment into cash at reduced margins. Although this has impacted the overall operating margin of the group, we feel this is the right decision at this time. Our restructuring in the Terex Cranes group and integration of Demag continue on track and we expect to see the benefits of these actions throughout 2003."

Backlog of crane orders on 31 March 2003 was worth $189.5m.