Klauser

The PALFINGER Group continued to record strong organic growth in the first three quarters of 2018, primarily as a result of the good performance in Europe, North America and Russia.

"The level of incoming orders was again higher than in the previous year and clearly surpassed our expectations," says CEO Andreas Klauser. "We are also satisfied with the earnings generated to date: despite the ongoing restructuring, operating profitability has almost reached the 10% threshold. At present, we are not seeing any slowdown in demand."

In the first three quarters of 2018, the PALFINGER Group's revenue increased by 8.2% from EUR1.0931 billion (USD1.24 billion) to EUR1.1826 billion (USD1.35 billion). In the reporting period, restructuring costs amounted to EUR14.7 million (USD16.7 million).

Europe was a strong performer for PALFINGER, with the EMEA business area once again recording higher incoming orders than in the previous year. As expected, the restructuring measures in North America and in its marine business continued to have a detrimental effect on earnings; however, in North America, following a two-year restructuring phase, all relevant one-time effects were already recorded in the first half of 2018.

PALFINGER confirms that it raised several promissory note loans, featuring maturities between five and 10 years and a volume of EUR80 million and USD25 million at the end of October "to optimise its financing structure".

In other developments in the last quarter, PALFINGER and Sany signed an agreement for the repurchase of shares held by PALFINGER in Sany Lifting Solutions. In the course of a cross-shareholding, PALFINGER acquired 10% in Sany Lifting Solutions in 2014, of which 2.5% will now be repurchased by SANY, generating an injection of EUR28.6 million (USD32.5 million).

In September 2018, PALFINGER began implementing a new global organisational structure. By the beginning of 2019, the new GLOBAL PALFINGER ORGANIZATION (GPO) will have been fully implemented and help reduce the complexity of the group, which has grown in size considerably, and utilise additional internal synergies. The existing group-wide initiatives will be consolidated and additional ones developed. The objective of this more streamlined organisational structure is to support the group's profitable growth.

In the first three quarters of 2018, the PALFINGER group again recorded an increase in incoming orders, which indicates that for the remaining 2018 financial year, business performance will continue to be satisfactory overall. Moreover, the remaining backlog is expected to be, for the most part, resolved by the end of 2018.

The management continues to foresee an increase in revenue and operating profitability for 2018. As a result of the further restructuring measures, the higher tax rate and the increase in earnings attributable to non-controlling shareholders, the consolidated net result for 2018 is not, however, expected to reach the record levels of 2015 and 2016.