Manitou reported positive half-year results despite a slower-than-expected increase in U.S. production and said it would not repeat that performance in the rest of the year.

Group revenue remained stable at EUR 1.4 billion, up 0.4% compared to the first six months of 2023, while operating profit increased by 44.7% to EUR 127.5 million compared to the same period in 2023.

Michel Denis, President & CEO, said: “The Group is closing a very good half-year in a context of contrasting activities and prospects. (This was due) to stronger than expected momentum in Southern Europe; growth in Europe offset the decline in North America.

“Our ambitions for further growth in North America have been hampered by a lack of operational flexibility and a much slower than expected expansion of our US industrial capacity. We are gradually addressing both of these.”

The new MTA-519 from Manitou, presented at the ARA Show 2024.

According to Denis, the positive financial performance in the first half of the year is due to the improvements the company has made over the past 18 months. “The delayed effect of the adjustment of sales prices to raw material prices achieved during the previous year is now bearing its full effect.”

Denis added: “This was accompanied by a more favourable customer and product mix and reasonable control of fixed costs.”

All these factors contributed to recurring operating profit increasing to 9.1% of net sales in the first half of the year, the highest level in the last 15 years.

Uncertainty in the second half

However, Denis warned that this performance would not be repeated in the second half of the year. “In fact, the dynamics of new orders remains a key area of ​​concern and it is too early to predict their medium-term direction.

“In addition, the uneven order situation of the individual product lines has prompted us to reduce production at most of our locations.”

Order intake in the second quarter of this year was EUR 86 million, compared to EUR 287 million in the same period of 2023. The company’s order backlog at the end of the second quarter was EUR 1,344 million, compared to EUR 3,061 million at the end of the first quarter of the previous year.

Denis added: “All of these factors allow us to confirm our revenue and recurring operating profit forecast for 2024.”

Division results

Breaking down the results by company segment, the Products division recorded sales of €1,203 million, also stable compared to the same period last year. Since January 2024, the division also includes the mechanical welding activities from the acquisition of two Italian companies, which contributed €7 million.

Recurring operating profit increased significantly by EUR 44.9 million to EUR 119.3 million compared to EUR 74.4 million in the first half of 2023.

Overall, the company said, the product division continued to benefit from the company’s policy of increasing selling prices to counter commodity inflation, in place since 2022. It also benefited from an improvement in production efficiency associated with the reduction of supply chain challenges.

With sales of EUR 204 million, the Services & Solutions (S&S) division recorded growth of 1.9 percent in the first six months. This was mainly due to the rental business, which grew by 11 percent, and the strengthening of the service offering, which grew by 15 percent, particularly in the areas of digital services and machine maintenance.