A one-off charge of $14.5m and a 25% drop in sales revenue led to Grove making an operating loss of $12.4m in the first quarter of fiscal 2002.
The benefit of the balance sheet restructuring was clearly shown, however. Over the three month period, ending on 29 December 2001, interest repayments on debt came to just $2.9m, compared with $18.1m for the same period in the previous year.
However, the benefit of this, coupled with cuts in overhead expenses, may still not be enough to offset the decline in crane sales. Net sales decreased nearly 25% to $130.8m for the first quarter from $173.4 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2001.
Adjusted for a one-off charge of $14.5m relating in part to the company coming our of bankruptcy, gross profit decreased 15% to $20.6. The write-off turned an operating loss of $606,000 in the first quarter of the previous financial year into an operating loss of $12.4m this time.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation was $5.5m for the three months, down 9% on the previous year’s first quarter figure of $6.1m.
Thanks mainly to the 220 job cuts in the first quarter of fiscal 2001, overheads this time around (selling, engineering, general and administrative – or SG&A – expenses) fell 15.1% to $18.5m. However, as a percentage of net sales SG&A was 14.1% in the first quarter of fiscal 2002 compared with a more efficient 12.6% in the first quarter of fiscal 2001.
