The manufacturer said approximately 60% of the increase was driven by its boom trucks, with much of the balance from the material handling operations of Liftking and CVS. Boom trucks in the lower tonnage capacities also contributed significantly this was in response to improved commercial construction activity, which predominantly uses lower capacity less specialist cranes.
There was a reduction in gross profit margin of $10.2m equal to 17.2% of sales compared to 20.0% for the first quarter of 2012. Manitex said that this was a result of a greater mix of lower capacity cranes and chassis. This meant there was a lower percentage of higher margin parts sales and a short-term increase in manufacturing expense arising from start-up inefficiencies from the introduction of new products. The company expected parts sales to return in line with previous levels over time as the recent rapid increase in new equipment sales become increasingly deployed and utilised.
David Langevin, Manitex’s chairman and chief executive, said that the results "were in line with our expectations with sales continuing to show dramatic growth over last years levels and modestly compared to the previous quarter." Although he conceded that the company had "experienced some temporary margin pressure in the quarter, primarily a result of manufacturing efficiencies related to start-up of new product and product sales mix"
Langevin also pointed to the company’s entry into the higher capacity truck crane market with its new 70t model, the TC700 being an area for growth: "the TC 700 is potentially a game- changer for the company, putting us firmly into a heavier truck crane category at a lower price point. Our expectation is that this product line has the potential to achieve similar success as did our 50t crane introduction of several years ago, that now represents approximately 20% of total sales or $40m."
The business’s macroeconomic view remained largely unchanged from its last update, and it continues to anticipate modest economic improvement overall with no growth in Europe. The company’s model to continued to be focused in the same way with 50% of its revenues coming from energy and 50% from general commercial markets.
