Increased revenues and profits for Demag Cranes

However, according to the company, despite the increases, Group overall business performance was “inconsistent.” In a year-on-year comparison, the Industrial Cranes and Services segment achieved excellent results, but they were unable to compensate for the decrease in earnings in the Gottwald Port Technology segment, which reported below expected results with an EBIT of EUR9.6m due to high manufacturing costs and transport bottlenecks for the new Generation 5 Mobile Harbour Cranes.

Responding to the situation, five measures were instituted in order to ensure a sustained reduction in manufacturing costs with a positive EBIT effect of EUR 15m. These measures will have been implemented by the end of the third quarter of the 2007/2008 financial year and their full effect on earnings will be seen in the 2008/2009 financial year.

In the Services segment, EBIT grew substantially year-on-year by 24.6% to EUR 61.4m. This marked improvement was attributed to the successful spare parts business and high demand for maintenance and refurbishment orders, as well as to the implementation of price increases.