Finland-based international rental giant Cramo posted €173.6 million (about U.S. $283 million) in third-quarter revenue, a 4.8-percent decrease from the third quarter of 2012. In local currencies, sales decreased 2.9 percent. In the third quarter of 2012, sales were increased as a result of about €4.7 million of deliveries to the Copenhagen metro project in Denmark related to modular space sales and rental compared to deliveries in the third quarter of this year.
For the first nine months of the year, Cramo’s consolidated sales were €482.2 million, (about U.S. $661 million), a 4.3-percent year-over-year decrease. Sales were weakened because of the divestment of Cramo’s modular space production and customized space rental business in Finland as well as by the transfer of Russian operations to a joint venture with Ramirent on March 1 of this year. Excluding the divested operations, the year-over-year drop was 2 percent.
“In this year’s challenging market situation, we have continued our strategy of rolling out a uniform business model,” said Cramo CEO Vesa Koivula. “We have also put a heavy emphasis on operational efficiency. Together with cost savings and those efficiency measures completed earlier, we improved our profitability in the third quarter. We will keep our cost level low for further profitability as markets improve and sales increase. We will specifically emphasize improvements in Norway, Denmark and Central Europe, but we will also keep a keen eye on all our other markets. Development this year shows that we are on the right track.
“We have also seen the first signs of increasing demand for equipment rental. Market forecasts for 2014 support a cautious optimism for many markets. Rental services, however, is a post-cyclical sector.”
Cramo’s expectations for 2014 are that the economies in the Eurozone will take an upward turn and growth is expected in most markets.
Cramo, active in 15 European countries, is based in Vantaa, near Helsinki, Finland.
