Poor US loader demand holds back Cargotec growth
12 November 2007Cargotec announced Q3 sales of EUR713m, up from EUR625m in the same period last year. Ship crane division MacGregor and container handling arm Kalmar reported strong orders, but Hiab was held back by poor demand in the US.
The company said that Hiab orders remained strong in Europe and Asia-Pacific, throughout January-September 2007, and grew in Central Eastern Europe, Russia and China. However, truck registrations were down on 2006, and this translated to declining demand for truck mounted forklifts, tail lifts and loader cranes from the US construction industry. The company said there were no signs of a recovery in this sector. Over the first nine months of the year, Hiab reported sales of EUR687m, barely up from EUR675m in the Q1-Q3 2006.
The company reported strong orders for its MacGregor division, driven by a worldwide increase in vessel orders. In the first nine months of 2007, MacGregor orders stood at EUR1,080m, up from EUR535m in the same period last year. Most recently (on 12 November, after the period covered by the Q3 results) MacGregor announced EUR70m of ship crane orders: these cover 179 cranes, for 43 vessels under manufacture in China and Korea.
Operating profit for operations declined from EUR164m in the first nine months of 2006, to EUR156.6m in Q1-Q3 2007
