Cargotec has posted an 11% year-on-year (y/y) slide in second-quarter orders after gains at Kalmar and Hiab were outweighed by a slump at its MacGregor business unit.
The Finnish cargo-handling equipment maker’s Kalmar unit produces port and terminal container handling machinery while Hiab mainly supplies road but also rail load handling sectors. MacGregor specialises in onboard and offshore markets.
“The market for marine handling equipment was weak and demand for cargo-handling solutions for bulk carriers was low,” Cargotec CEO Mika Vehviläinen told a company first-half meeting in Helsinki.
“Although orders for large container ships increased during the second quarter, orders were not yet placed for the related cargo handling equipment.”
While the group’s overall orders sagged 11% y/y to EU887 million (USD964 million) “due to the MacGregor situation”, its order book grew 6% in the quarter and its sales climbed 16%, said Cargotec.
Operating profit also rose to USD54.9 million, reversing a loss in the quarter last year of EUR6 million.
But MacGregor’s order book shrank 32% y/y to EUR220 million and its operating profit was only 4.1%, excluding restructuring costs of EUR2.9 million.
Vehviläinen said Kalmar and Hiab have completed ahead of schedule profit-raising programmes begun in 2013.
At MacGregor, efficiency and cost-saving programmes are progressing as planned and a new president, Dutchman Michel van Roozendaal, takes over in August, he added.
Yet Cargotec’s shares dropped 10.75%, closing at EUR32.54 yesterday (21 July) on the Helsinki Stock Exchange.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.
