Nacco Materials Handling Group (NMHG) made solid progress during the fourth quarter ended 31 December and envisions further improvement during 2011. NMHG is a unit of publicly traded Nacco Industries Inc. The operating entity behind the Hyster and Yale forklift brands had fourth-quarter profit of USD13.3 million compared with USD0.9 million in the comparable 2009 period. Reflecting higher shipments, NMHG reports fourth-quarter sales of USD570.1 million versus USD395.7 million in the previous year's comparable quarter. For 2010, NMHG had sales of USD1.80 billion in comparison to USD1.48 billion in 2009. As of 31 December 2010, NMHG's backlog of unfilled orders was approximately 23,000 units, or about USD512 million. The backlog as of 31 December 2009 was approximately 13,200 units, or about USD307 million. Backlog represents unfilled forklift orders placed with NMHG's manufacturing and assembly facilities from dealers, national accounts customers and US government contracts. "Improved (NMHG) sales volume of both units and parts and lower manufacturing variances (were) partially offset by higher employee-related costs resulting from the restoration of compensation and benefits which were reduced in 2009, increased materials costs and unfavourable foreign currency movements," the company says. The company's outlook notes, "NMHG expects global market levels for units and parts volumes to continue to improve in all markets in 2011 compared with 2010, particularly in the Americas, with more significant growth in the second half of the year." Over two difficult years, NMHG actions "included reductions in force, a plant closure in Italy, capital expenditure restraints, planned plant shutdowns, restrictions on travel and spending, suspension of incentive compensation and profit-sharing programs, wage freezes and salary and benefit reductions." NHMG has about 5,000 employees. During 2010, NMHG introduced three new electric-rider lift truck series in the Americas and one new electric-rider lift truck series in Europe. NMHG expects to launch four additional series of electric-rider lift trucks in late 2011. In July 2010, NMHG introduced new base-model internal combustion engine lift truck models aimed at the medium-duty segment of the Americas market and expects to introduce one in Europe in mid-2011. In mid-2011, NMHG expects to introduce a new 12 ton (10.8 tonne) big truck. In December, Kevin S Oxley, 51, joined NMHG as vice president of human resources. He had been the group human resource director of manufacturer and distributor Invacare Corp from November 2009 to December 2010. The company reports a profit attributable to stockholders of USD79.5 million on 2010 sales of USD2.69 billion, according to Alfred M Rankin Jr, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Mayfield Heights-based Nacco. Industry analyst C Schon Williams notes that Nacco Industries' fourth quarter "sales handily beat our estimates on strength within NMHG". Williams is vice president in the Richmond, Virginia office of BB&T Capital Markets. A legal settlement agreement with Applica Inc (Forkliftaction.com News #501) resulted in Nacco's February receipt of a USD60-million payment or USD39 million after taxes of USD21 million. "The company expects to incur additional litigation costs for the first two months of 2011 in the range of approximately USD2.5 million to USD3.0 million pre-tax for services rendered prior to entering into the settlement agreement," Nacco says.