REDMOND, Wash. — The Terex Aerial Work Platforms segment of Terex Corp. recently sold its Terex power buggy product line to Indy Equipment and the Terex Generator product line to Cummins Power Generation for undisclosed sums. The divestments come less than a month after the segment sold its Load King trailer unit to Manitex International.
The divestments are part of a Terex AWP strategy to focus on its core aerial equipment business.
“At this point in time, it makes sense for Terex AWP to focus on our core products, such as Genie aerial lifts, telehandlers and light towers,” said Brad Allen, global general manager of scissors, portables and light towers. “The Terex line of generators offers Cummins an opportunity to vertically integrate and manufacture the same high-quality generators Terex has been private-labeling for them during the past several years.”
Terex generators offer a range of power capacities from 30 KVA to 360 KVA. Features include enough capacity to carry 24 hours of fuel on board, a heavy-duty trailer and consistent accurate voltage regulation.
Warranty support for Cummins-branded units will begin immediately. Warranty support for Terex-branded units will continue until the end of 2010. Parts support will be supplied by Terex AWP for 180 days from the date of sale, at which point Cummins will assume parts support ownership.
In financial news, Terex Corp. posted a net loss from continuing operations for the fourth quarter of 2009 of $114.8 million, or $1.06 per share, compared to a net loss of $452.3 million, or $4.78 per share, for the fourth quarter of 2008. Net sales were $1.058 million in the fourth quarter of 2009, a decrease of 36.1 percent compared with $1.656 million in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Net sales dropped about 41 percent year over year when adjusting for the effect of foreign currency exchange rate changes. Results do not include the Mining and Load King trailer businesses, classified as discontinued operations.
For the full-year 2009, Terex reported a net loss of $450.7 million, or $4.39 per share, compared to a net loss of $74 million, or $.74 per share for the full year of 2008. Net sales were $4.04 billion in 2009, a 51.8-percent decrease compared with $8.39 billion in 2008, with foreign currency exchange rate changes accounting for about 3 percent of the decrease in net sales and acquisitions contributing about 2 percent of the increase.
“We just completed one of the most challenging years ever for our industry and our company,” said Ron DeFeo, Terex chairman and CEO. “And while we continue to face very low levels of demand in many of our end markets, the company is beginning to recover operationally, and our strategic transformation has started with the sale of our mining business to Bucyrus International. We had a net sales decline from continuing operations of 52 percent in 2009 compared to 2008. When net sales decline this rapidly, the profitability falls even more quickly, as pricing actions, inventory valuations, bad debt, and restructuring costs all add up. This is why we chose to manage the company for cash in 2009, as well as quickly putting in place cost reduction programs to resize the organization's cost structure to the current demand environment. We are glad we took this path, even though at times it was painful.”
DeFeo added that he expected Terex' performance to improve in 2010. “We have begun the process of changing our focus from cash management to growth,” he said. “We see relative stability in our end markets and believe we need to capture market share in order to grow. To do this, we will introduce several new products across a range of our businesses and complete new factories in India and China that will support our business later in 2010 and beyond. We expect to incur operating losses in the first half of 2010, and expect to return to operational profitability in the second half of the year.
Terex Corp, a diversified global manufacturer, operates in four business segments: aerial work platforms; construction; cranes; and materials processing. The company is based in Westport, Conn.
