The Manitowoc Company, Inc. (NYSE: MTW) today reported sales of $949.8 million for the second quarter of 2011, up 15.9 percent from $819.3 million in the second quarter of 2010. The sales increase was primarily due to a 22.9 percent increase in Crane segment sales, coupled with a 7.4 percent increase in Foodservice segment sales. Second-quarter 2011 net sales in the Crane segment were $554.8 million, up 22.9 percent from $451.6 million in the second quarter of 2010, driven primarily by continued growth in the Americas region and strong demand in emerging markets.
On a GAAP basis, the company reported earnings of $2.7 million, or $0.02 per diluted share, in the second quarter versus earnings of $14.1 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2010. Both periods included special items. Excluding special items, adjusted earnings from continuing operations were $20.2 million, or $0.16 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2011, versus adjusted earnings from continuing operations of $14.5 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2010. A reconciliation of GAAP net earnings to net earnings before special items is provided later in this press release.
“Our strong second-quarter results underscore the improved demand for our products across multiple geographies. In both Cranes and Foodservice, we are seeing improving confidence within our customer base, despite some lingering uncertainty in the broader economic landscape. Order activity has started to rebound in our developed markets, while emerging markets have maintained their momentum,” commented Glen E. Tellock, Manitowoc’s chairman and chief executive officer.
“Achieving and preserving an optimal capital structure remains a key priority for us as we capitalize on the strategic opportunities ahead of us. We continue to focus on working capital management to ensure we maintain an appropriate balance between our ability to meet growing customer demand and our cash generation and debt reduction goals,” continued Tellock. “We believe that our initiatives around product innovation and operational excellence position us well to leverage the recovering economy. We will continue to invest in the necessary people, processes, and technology to support our long-term growth strategy as we focus on expanding our leadership and competitive position in 2011 and beyond.”
Crane Segment Results
Second-quarter 2011 net sales in the Crane segment were $554.8 million, up 22.9 percent from $451.6 million in the second quarter of 2010, driven primarily by continued growth in the Americas region and strong demand in emerging markets.
Crane segment operating earnings for the second quarter of 2011 decreased to $29.5 million from $38.5 million in the same period last year. This resulted in a Crane segment operating margin of 5.3 percent for the second quarter of 2011, down from 8.5 percent in the same period in 2010. The year-over-year decrease in margin was due to commodity cost pressure, as well as an unusually high margin in 2010 that resulted from the collection of fully reserved accounts receivable totaling over $6 million. Crane segment backlog totaled $839 million as of June 30, 2011, an increase of 4.9 percent from the $800 million backlog at March 31, 2011, and up 58 percent from one year ago. Orders of $588 million generated a book-to-bill ratio of 1.1.
“The second-quarter Crane segment results illustrate the benefits we receive from our global footprint and considerable product breadth. Project discussions and improved quoting activities are occurring in most product lines with demand in North America picking up, particularly in large rough-terrain cranes and boom trucks, coupled with increased activity in some parts of Europe for tower cranes and all-terrain cranes. In our emerging markets, we still see energy and infrastructure projects driving sales. The level of activity we have witnessed in the first half of this year supports our assertion that 2010 was indeed the trough and 2011 will be a transition year as we continue to move through this recovery,” added Tellock.
