Oshkosh Corp., the parent company of JLG Industries, posted fiscal 2016 second quarter net income of $56.1 million compared to $54.6 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2015. JLG, the access equipment segment, reported a 23.2-percent sales decline to $754.3 million for the quarter, primarily because of the slowdown in North American replacement demand that began last summer, as well as lower shipments of telehandlers in North America.
Also, in the second quarter of fiscal 2015, the access equipment segment experienced a large increase in telehandler sales related to the transition to Tier 4 engines.
Access equipment segment operating income decreased 44.7 percent to $75.7 million for the fiscal second quarter compared to $136.9 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2015. In addition to lower sales volume, JLG attributed the decrease to a challenging pricing environment, the impact of a prior year benefit associated with a favorable vendor recovery settlement and adverse manufacturing absorption as the business significantly reduced production rates. The reduction was partly offset by lower spending on engine emissions standards changes.
“Our North American access equipment rental customers, as expected, adopted a more cautious approach to rental fleet capital expenditures during the quarter,” said Wilson Jones, Oshkosh Corp. president and CEO. “However, we believe rental company market conditions continue to support a reasonable level of fleet investment. We believe a generally more positive view of the U.S. economy, a solid construction outlook and a relatively mild winter in the U.S. led some rental companies to make access equipment purchase decisions earlier in the year than they may have previously planned, leading to higher than expected sales in the access equipment segment in the second quarter.”
