Nacco Industries Inc has announced a second quarter net profit of USD9.6 million (EUR8.4 million), a massive turnaround from the USD2.8 million (EUR2.4 million) reported in the second quarter of 2002.

The strong quarter lifts Nacco's net income, for the half-year to June 30, to USD13.7 million (EUR11.9 million), compared to USD9.1 million (EUR7.9 million) last year. Revenues for the second quarter came to USD637.5 million (EUR551.1 million), compared to USD609.6 million (EUR530.8 million) last year, while six-month revenues finished at USD1.3 billion (EUR1.1 billion) compared to USD1.2 billion (EUR1 billion) last year.

Nacco Material Handling Group's (NMHG) wholesale division earned USD6.3 million (EUR5.5 million) on revenues of USD389.2 million (EUR338.9 million), compared to net profit of USD2.5 million (EUR2.1 million) on revenues of USD347.2 million (EUR302.3 million) for Q2 of 2002.

NMHG said revenues increased due to increased sales in each geographic division, a shift in customer buying to higher-priced forklifts and favourable currency movements, namely the USD's contraction against the euro.

Forklift shipments increased 5% to 16,961 units for Q2, compared to 16,135 units for the second quarter of 2002. NMHG Wholesale's worldwide backlog increased to 19,400 units, compared to 17,500 units at the end of the second quarter of 2002 and 17,300 units at the end of the first quarter this year.

For the six months to June 30, NMHG Wholesale reported net profit of USD11.0 million (EUR906 million) on revenues of USD771.8 million (EUR672 million), compared to USD8.1 million (EUR7 million) earned on revenues of USD674.9 million (EUR587.7 million) in the first six months of 2002.

While global markets were uncertain, NMHG said forklift shipments would increase moderately in the second half. "Markets in the Americas are anticipated to improve, while Europe and Asia-Pacific are expected to remain relatively flat," the company said.

NMHG's retail arm reported a USD600,000 (EUR522,466) net loss on revenues of USD39.2 million (EUR34.1 million) for the second quarter, compared to a net loss of USD3.7 million (EUR3.2 million) on revenues of USD41.5 million (EUR36.1 million) for the second quarter of 2002. The company said the improvement was largely due to stronger results in the Asia-Pacific region's retail operations.

For the six months to June 30, NMHG Retail had a net loss of USD2.0 million (EUR1.7 million) on revenues of USD75.6 million (EUR65.8 million), compared to a net loss of USD5.0 million (EUR4.4 million) on revenues of USD85.6 million (EUR74.5 million) for the first six months of 2002.

NMHG said it would continue attempts to improve the performance of its wholly-owned dealerships, and hoped to achieve and sustain at least break-even results.