The focus of this week's news is very corporate. We include a couple of financial reports from major manufacturers, some acquisition news and coverage of dealer developments in Europe and the United States.
The latest dealer movements come after an extremely busy year for equipment retailers and hirers. This must surely indicate that competition at the coal face of customer sales is intensifying, and dealers need more fire power to survive. That means more outlets, access to more brands and critical mass which makes them more appealing to financiers and industrial landlords.
We see that manufacturers still have record order books and continue to increase their sales, but the nature of retail makes it difficult to get a clear reading on financial performance. One would expect that even with prices rising, dealers - and especially smaller ones - must be facing tight margins, especially with so many manufacturers also operating shop fronts themselves.