For the full year, corporation net sales were $7.647.6m, up from $6,156.5m in 2005. Crane division full year net sales were $1,740.1m, up from $1,271.9m, a rise of almost half a billion dollars. The company said that the acquisition of a 50% controlling interest in Sichuan Changjiang Engineering Crane Co., Ltd had contributed to the rise: approximately 18% of the Q4 sales increase for the cranes division was attributed to the Chinese manufacturer.
Steve Filipov, president, Terex Cranes, said, “The Terex Cranes segment had a terrific quarter, achieving an operating margin in excess of 10% for the first time in many years. Additionally, revenue growth continued to be robust, increasing over 44% versus the comparable period in the prior year, highlighting the continued increasing global demand for our products and our improving ability to meet this demand. More importantly, operating profit for the quarter grew approximately 102% versus the prior year’s results.” Income from operations rose to $52.7m for the quarter, from $26.1m; over the year, it totalled $154.5m, up from $60.2m in 2005.
Mr Filipov continued, “Our backlog [$1,132.3m, up from $452.6m], besides highlighting the strong business environment in which we operate, also illustrates issues that we continue to face as we increase our production schedule. Our customers need our products right away, and we continue to struggle with the limited supply of certain components. We are working diligently to eliminate the production bottlenecks at our various locations and to better utilise the space we have and implement lean principles in order to improve overall production rates.”
The company’s share price hit rose to $67.02 on the morning of 15 February, from $60.80 at close of business on 14 February. After an increase to $69.06 on Friday morning, they settled to $66.59 at close of business. Despite reaching quarterly net income per share of 97 cents, beating a Reuters Estimates’ analysts average of 93 cents, experts at Goldman Sachs and Robert W. Baird maintained “neutral” ratings on the company.
