Sales Increase for Genie Industries, Terex Cranes

July 23, 2004 - Sales for the Terex Aerial Work Platforms group, which includes Genie Industries, Redmond, Wash., reached $238 million in the second quarter of 2004, an overall increase of $70.2 million since the second quarter of 2003. Backlogs in orders also increased to $916 million, which is up 125 percent from the second quarter of 2003. The company said the growth is from rental customers seeing improvements in their rental and utilization rates.

 

“Our sales were up meaningfully, compared to the second quarter of 2003,” said Bob Wilkerson, president of Terex Aerial Work Platforms. “While cost pressures from many of our suppliers, particularly steel, negatively impacted our gross margin, our operating margin continued its positive trend as favorable volume leverage more than offset increased material costs.

 

“As we look forward, we expect the favorable performance trend to continue, especially given the increasing order backlog. As our customers continue to demonstrate improved financial performance, we expect many will look to expand their rental fleets to take advantage of the increase in demand for light duty rental equipment. The increase in our current performance continues to be mainly driven by replacement demand, as rental companies have stopped aging their fleets. Additionally, we continue to strengthen our geographic reach, most notably in Europe, where we have seen strengthening product demand in the United Kingdom, France and Germany.”

 

Net sales in the Terex Cranes group also increased $3.9 million to $276.9 million for the second quarter of 2004, compared to the second quarter of 2003. Despite weak sales in the North American markets, these sales were offset by increased performance in the small all-terrain crane and Italian tower crane businesses

 

“While North America remains a difficult market, we have made progress with regard to profitability and expect to continue to see modest improvements heading into 2005,” said Steve Filipov, president of Terex Cranes. “Our international cranes businesses, most notably Terex-Demag, delivered improved operating margins on reduced net sales, mainly attributed to the lower volume of used crane sales in 2004. The tower crane business, although the smallest crane operating group, produced superb results for the quarter.”

 

Although the North American crane sales has seen a downturn of approximately 70 percent since 2000, Filipov said Terex Cranes will continue to focus on cost containment and positioning its franchise for a recovery in 2005.