Manitowoc has blamed a slow-down in its boom truck business, together with a decline in orders in its food service business, for net sales falling below expectations in the first quarter of the year.
The company announced on 26 March that it expected first quarter sales to be in the range of $215m to $225m, up from $202m reported in the first quarter of 2000, but with earnings per share down from 57 cents last year to 43 cents at best.
“Orders from customers in our food service and boom-truck businesses have been much slower than we expected during the first quarter,” said president and chief executive officer Terry Growcock. “Despite this weakness, our cash generation continues to be strong. In addition, significant cost-control measures have been implemented at all of our food service and boom-truck operations and we expect these actions will result in cost savings in the second half of 2001.
“On the crane side of the business, sales of our boom trucks continue to be weak due to greater economic pressures on smaller contractors, reflecting the reduced order patterns for light-duty construction equipment that we have seen for the past two quarters. In addition, our crane segment is being impacted with pricing pressures due to the strong dollar and greater competitiveness within the global market. These factors, in turn, have negatively impacted our crane margins. Conversely, we continue to see strong quoting activity for our high-capacity cranes, primarily due to demand throughout the energy-related market. Equally importantly, we continue to maintain our worldwide market share despite these difficult conditions.” However, Growcock said the company “continues to see strong quoting activity for its high-capacity cranes, mainly due to demand throughout the energy-related market”.
Earlier in March Manitowoc agreed to pay Legris Industries of France $300m for its tower crane manufacturing company, Potain.
