Columbus McKinnon Corporation, a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of material handling products, today announced financial results for its fiscal 2011 third quarter that ended on December 31, 2010.

Net sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2011 were $128.7 million, an increase of $9.7 million, or 8.2%, from the same period in the prior year, which included $0.5 million in sales for the American Lifts business that was divested in October 2009 as well as an unfavorable currency impact of $3.0 million and one less shipping day. Net of the divestiture and currency changes, revenue grew 11.1%. Sales improved across most product categories led by the Americas and European markets.

U.S. industrial capacity utilization continued its positive trend through 2010 and increased to 73.6% in December. Euro zone capacity utilization also trended higher last year, reaching 77.6% in the third quarter of 2010 compared with the trough of 69.6% in the third quarter of 2009. The Company uses both U.S. and Euro zone capacity utilization as leading market indicators and its bookings trends tend to lag general capacity utilization trends by one to two quarters.

Timothy T. Tevens, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, European sales continue to outpace the general improvement in the economy. We believe we are continuing to capture greater market share as the breadth of our product offering, strength of our brands and the reach of our sales presence provide us competitive advantages. Likewise, in Asia-Pacific and Latin America we are furthering our presence in those expanding economies.