Continued rise for Palfinger

Palfinger Group’s revenue rose by 9.7% to €1,093.1 million in the first three quarters of its financial year, setting a new record for the reporting period.

Operating profit rose more significantly, with a 12.6% rise in EBITDA to €147.6 million, this resulted on an EBITDA margin of 13.5%.

The company said the main reasons for the expansion were a good performance in Europe, Russia and China, as well as the acquisitions and changes made by the group since 2016. As expected, the ongoing restructuring in North America and in the marine business had a detrimental effect on earnings.

Palfinger’s CEO Herbert Ortner, explained. “Our flexibility allows us to translate our good capacity utilization into an increase in operating profitability. The restructuring in North America and in the marine business is also starting to take effect. Given the continuing high level of our incoming orders, we are confident that we will yet again post record revenue and record earnings for 2017 as a whole.”

Revenue in the Land segment increased by 5.5% year-on-year from €861.2million to €908.8 million. The segment’s EBITDA grew by 13.9% from €135 million to €153.8 million. EBITDA rose from 15.7% to 16.9% in the first three quarters of 2017. The restructuring costs allocated to the segment amounted to €8.9 million, compared to €5.7 million in the first three quarters of 2016.

There was expansion of business in the EMEA, CIS and Asia. In Europe, economic recovery in construction and infrastructure continued to be noticeable, and the acquisition of the Danish distribution partner Palfinger Danmark AS generated positive momentum too, said the company.

“In South America, Palfinger continued to operate in a highly difficult market environment, but it appears that the downturn has bottomed out. In Asia, particularly in China, the partnership with Sany has proved to be the foundation for the sound development of business; the revenue generated by the joint venture increased considerably in the reporting period,” said the company in its report.

The Sea segment’s revenue increased to €184.3 million, In the first three quarters of 2017, a year-on-year increase of 36.1%. The contribution of the segment to consolidated revenue rose from 13.6% to 16.9%, reflecting the acquisition of the Harding Group at the end of June 2016. Harding contributed $77.3 million to revenue in the reporting period.

However, the segment’s EBITDA declined from €7.6 million to €5.8 million. The EBITDA margin came to 3.1%, as compared to 5.6% in the first three quarters of 2016. The restructuring costs incurred by this segment increased €3.1 million to €4.1 million.

“The business environment of the Sea segment remained highly challenging as a result of the strained situation of the oil and gas industry. In the reporting period, the level of incoming orders increased in some areas, pointing to a stabilisation of the market situation,” said the company.