Manitowoc Co. posted fourth quarter 2015 sales of $934.8, a 9.8-percent decrease compared to the fourth quarter of 2014, when total sales equaled $1 billion. The crane segment dropped 18.1 percent to $543.1 million compared to $663.2 million in Q414. The decline was largely the result of weakness in rough terrain crane and boom truck sales because of declining oil prices and its impact across energy-related end markets.
The decline was partially offset by strength in crawler cranes driven by accelerating shipments of Manitowoc’s VPC technology. Also there was solid demand for tower cranes because of improving residential and commercial construction markets, particularly in Europe.
Crane operating earnings for the fourth quarter were $24.1 million, down from $45.3 million in the same period a year ago. The operating margin was 4.4 percent in the fourth quarter compared to 6.8 percent a year ago.
For the full year, crane revenue slid 19.1 percent to $1.9 billion, and operating earnings plunged to $64.3 million compared to $163.9 million in 2014.
“During the quarter, we saw pockets of better demand within our all-terrain category fueled by our new five-axle GMK5250L,” said new CEO Barry Pennypacker. “However, the overall business remains challenged by an uncertain macro-economic environment.”
Pennypacker added that Manitowoc Cranes assumes no improvement in the global economic backdrop in 2016, but modest stabilization in demand.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.