Forklift attachments maker Cascade Corp reports a 28% increase in comparable quarterly sales and outlines some progress from its European restructuring program.

"Generally, global lift truck markets are recovering based on order and shipment rates," Cascade says. "However, it is difficult to predict with certainty the pace and extent of the recovery."

For fiscal second quarters ended 31 July, Cascade had profit of USD3.2 million on sales of USD97.7 million versus a loss of USD12.3 million on sales of USD76.6 million in the previous year.

Fairview-based Cascade reports "progress as a result of (European) restructuring efforts," but "our results still fell short of our expectations due to the write-down of obsolete inventory, high freight costs, competitive pricing of certain products and costs to transfer the warehousing and delivery of our forks in France and Germany to a third-party provider."

The European restructuring has "included closing production facilities in Germany, the Netherlands and France, changes in management personnel, other workforce reductions within Europe and movement of certain production activities to (Verona) Italy".

In a 31 January regulatory filing, Cascade says it incurred USD32.5 million of European restructuring costs over two years and was seeking to sell four European properties. They are located in Almere, the Netherlands; Schalksmühle, Germany; and La Machine and Ancenis, France. Program costs have included USD17.3 million in severance, USD9 million for fixed asset write-downs and USD2.6 million for movement of equipment and facility shutdowns.

Cascade's largest competitor is Bolzoni SpA of Casoni di Podenzano, Italy.