Manitowoc reports loss but strong finish in 2020

The Manitowoc Company reported fourth-quarter net income of $1.8 million, or $0.05 per diluted share. Fourth quarter adjusted net income was $6.7 million, or $0.19 per diluted share.

Aaron Ravenscroft, president and CEO, The Manitowoc Company

Net sales in the fourth quarter decreased 7.1 percent year-over-year to $430.3 million and were favorably impacted by $14.6 million from changes in foreign currency exchange rates. Adjusted EBITDA of $34.2 million, or 7.9 percent of net sales, increased $3.3 million year-over-year due to a favorable product mix and lower engineering, selling and administrative expenses in the quarter, the company said.

Manitowoc finished the year strong with an increase of orders in the fourth-quarter to $508.6 million, a 7.8 percent from the prior year, 4.6 percent on a currency neutral basis. Backlog as of December 31, 2020 totaled $543.2 million, an increase of 14.3 percent year-over-year.

Full-year 2020 net sales of $1,443.4 million were favorably impacted by $12.4 million due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates. Full-year 2020 adjusted EBITDA(1) was $83.1 million, or 5.8 percent of net sales. Manitowoc recorded a full-year net loss of $19.1 million, or $0.55 loss per diluted share. Full-year net loss on an adjusted basis was $12.3 million, or $0.35 loss per diluted share.

“The fourth quarter was a strong finish to a challenging year,” said Aaron H. Ravenscroft, president and CEO. “Led by a couple of sizable crawler purchases, order intake for the quarter totaled $508.6 million, and we ended the year with $543.2 million in backlog.”

Ravenscroft said that although the company is trending toward a recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the management team still sees a significant amount of uncertainty in end markets combined with growing material cost inflation, a softening dollar, and a less favorable product mix.

For that reason, Manitowoc is not providing 2021 financial guidance, he said.

“Manitowoc’s balance sheet remains strong, and we have ample liquidity to fund our growth initiatives,” Ravenscroft said. “We continue to evaluate acquisition opportunities; accelerate our product development in our all-terrain product line; scale-up our Chinese tower crane business; and grow our tower crane rental fleet in Europe. 2021 will be a year of transition, and we will use it to lay the foundation for our future growth.”