Demag adjusts financial forecast

Orders in the third quarter of FY2006/07 grew by 19.4% year-on-year to reach €295.3m, with all three segments of the company contributing to growth. Orders in the Industrial Cranes segment grew by 31.5% to €148.2m, due to strong demand for both standard and process crane lines. Order intake in the Port Technology segment was up 11.5% to €72m, led by the core product, Gottwald mobile harbour cranes, and to high customer acceptance of the new Generation 5 cranes. The Services segment recorded growth of 7.3% to reach €75m.

Group sales in the third quarter were up 11% overall to €276.2m, and for the first nine months grew by 8.4% to €773.8m. The biggest contributor in the third quarter was the Industrial Cranes segment, which showed a sales increase of 12.6% to €119.8m. Sales in the Port Technology sector grew by only 2.1%, to €79m, and this slower-than-expected development was attributed mainly to transport bottlenecks on the global market, which caused delays of sales bookings due to hold-ups in deliveries. Higher manufacturing costs also negatively affected the overall figure.

As a result, Demag’s management board has adjusted its annual forecast for the year. It is now expecting to achieve group sales of €1,040m–€1,070m, an adjusted EBIT of €93m and an adjusted group EBITDA of €113m.