Oshkosh Corp., parent company to aerial work platform industry leader JLG Industries, today posted a 100.7-percent net sales increase in its fiscal third quarter ended June 30, with $2.439 billion in sales in the quarter compared with $1.215 billion for the same period a year ago. Gross income jumped 174 percent year over year, from $175.9 million in fiscal Q309 compared with $481.6 million this year.

Of greater significance to the rental industry, access equipment segment sales to external customers leaped 77 percent to $373.9 million for the quarter, compared with the previous year’s third quarter. The aerial equipment segment posted increases in sales in all major markets, with the largest dollar increases in North America and Latin America. While North American sales remain significantly lower than historic levels because of weak construction markets and tight credit, sales have begun to recover from historic lows.

Third-quarter fiscal 2010 access equipment segment sales also included $316 million of intersegment M-ATV-related sales to the defense segment as Oshkosh continued to leverage underutilized facilities in the access equipment segment to meet defense production requirements. Although much of JLG’s increase was in the defense segment, it posted $374 million in sales of aerial equipment used in construction sites.

In total, access segment sales leapt 226.6 percent to $689.9 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2010 compared with the same period a year ago.

The access equipment segment reported operating income of $31.6 million, or 4.6 percent of sales, for the third quarter of fiscal 2010, compared with an operating loss of $71.2 million or 33.7 percent of sales in the year-ago quarter.

“Our dedicated and committed employees worked hard to deliver third-quarter records for revenue, operating income and EPS, led once again by strong performance in our defense segment,” said Robert Bohn, Oshkosh Corp. chairman and CEO. “We further improved our balance sheet during the quarter with debt reduction of $175 million. Over the past two years we have retired $1.5 billion of debt as a result of strong free cash flow and $358 million of proceeds from a stock offering.

“This quarter, we commenced low rate production of access equipment in our newly constructed Tianjin, China, facility. We expect to gradually ramp up production in this facility over the next 12 months to serve Asian markets as access equipment becomes accepted as a productivity and safety tool for construction and industrial markets in this region.”

Oshkosh Corp. is based in Oshkosh, Wis. JLG is based in McConnellsburg, Pa.