Preliminary results announced by Manitowoc for the third quarter of 2015 have revealed a decline in sales compared with the same quarter last year.
Manitowoc Company sales (for both Cranes and Foodservice) are forecast to be $863m for Q3 2015, against $986.3m for Q3 of 2014; net earnings are projected to be approximately $5m in Q3 2015, compared with $73.1m in Q3 2014.
The conjoined revenue for the Cranes and Foodservice divisions actually mask the dire straight of the Cranes business, which is currently being buoyed by the improving Foodservice business.
“Our Cranes segment continued to be negatively impacted by a deteriorating demand environment, particularly in the Middle East and Asia, explained Glen Tellock, Manitowoc CEO and chairman.
“In addition, lower than anticipated tower and crawler crane shipments exacerbated the shortfall in revenues for the third quarter.”
The divergent fortunes of the two divisions is thought be one of the reasons behind the recent decision to split the Manitowoc company into two separate companies.
Tellock continued: “We are taking a number of aggressive actions, including plant rationalisation and right-sizing the business, to offset this decline in demand.
“Based on third-quarter results, we now expect Cranes full-year 2015 revenues to be down 15% to 20% compared to 2014, and operating margins to be low single-digits for full-year 2015.”
