Fresh twist in Terex/Fantuzzi dispute

According to Reuters, Terex said it “may likely” violate a credit covenant as early as the end of the first quarter of 2009, and it could not “reasonably estimate” how much money it would make or lose in the current year.

“Despite the positive generation of cash during the fourth quarter, continued deteriorating business conditions … may likely cause the company to be in violation of the consolidated fixed charge coverage ratio covenant under its credit agreement as early as the end of the first quarter of 2009,” Terex said in its earnings report.

It also predicted that its 2009 sales would fall by 30–35% and said it was being hurt by “increasing levels of cancellations in our backlog for crane and mining products, as well as delays in acceptance of deliveries”.