PARTEK, the diverse material handling equipment manufacturer whose product line includes Hiab loaders and Nelcon dockside cranes, saw its sales continue to grow in 2001 on the back of acquisitions, but orders and profits both fell.
Net sales for the group increased 8% to E2,740m. Orders received fell nearly 4% to E2,294m. Group operating profit fell 44% to E90m and the operating margin was 3.3% compared to 6.3% in 2000. Profit after financial items was E42m.
President and CEO Christoffer Taxell described 2001 as ‘a hard year for Partek’ and said that the market would not improve until, at the earliest, the second half of this year.
During 2001 Partek focused on integrating acquired businesses such as Nelcon, the Dutch manufacturer of ship-to-shore cranes. The addition of Nelcon to the group led to a 24% rise in sales from container handling equipment.
Net sales in load handling, which includes the Hiab range, grew 6% thanks to sales of truck-mounted forklifts. Loader crane sales were hampered by a second consecutive year of declining truck sales.
New product introduced during the year included the satellite positioning-based automation feature Smartrail for gantry cranes, and the Hiab XS loader crane series.
