PALFINGER: Record Revenue in the First Three Quarters of 2022

[By: Palfinger]

• Strong demand in NAM and LATAM
• Energy costs, energy supply, supply chain and war in Ukraine remain uncertainty factors
• Over EUR 2 billion revenue mark within reach for 2022 as a whole

Despite the volatile economic environment worldwide, impending recession, and supply chains that are still unstable, PALFINGER AG's revenue mark of EUR 2 billion in 2022 is within reach. While the order backlog remains at a high level, uncertainty is increasingly affecting demand, particularly in EMEA. In Q1 to Q3 of 2022, the Bergheim based group recorded revenues of EUR 1,580.9 million and an EBIT of EUR 112.5 million

Disproportionate growth in NAM and LATAM
While geopolitical developments are weakening the market in EMEA and the Covid pandemic continues to negatively impact the market in APAC, NAM and LATAM stand out as growth drivers due to their positive market environment. The Latin American market is undergoing a significant upswing as a result of strong demand, particularly in mining. In turn, the North American market benefits from its lower energy costs, more stable supply chains and high demand on the domestic market. The repositioning of the truck mounted forklifts (TMF) has met with great popularity in the USA. In Vietnam, PALFINGER successfully entered the offshore wind market.
The new digital, eco-efficient and smart solutions from PALFINGER have met with great customer interest at the IAA and bauma trade fairs, which opened their doors again for the first time since Covid. And with the expansion of the Löbau production site into a hub for access platforms, PALFINGER underlines its strategy of pushing this product group that has a strong future.

Flexibility provides stability
“The volatile and challenging environment demands maximum flexibility in production from us,” emphasizes PALFINGER CEO Andreas Klauser. However, the high order backlog and good level of output are offset by supply difficulties, particularly for electronic components. Together with the difficult delivery situation for trucks, this results in high inventory stocks in production and finished products. In addition, minimum inventories have also been increased in a targeted manner due to unstable supply chains. Price increases and exchange rate effects have a significant impact on PALFINGER's revenue growth. “In order to be able to present all cost factors transparently and promptly for us and our customers and to stabilize our own profitability, we are switching to dynamic pricing which will take effect from 2023,” says Andreas Klauser.

Energy Task Force
In view of the energy crisis, PALFINGER set up its own task force at an early stage, even though energy consumption is low compared to other industries. The task force develops measures for the reduction of energy consumption and the partial substitution of natural gas.

Outlook
PALFINGER’s order backlog remains very high and in the coming months further price increases will take effect that will have a positive impact on PALFINGER’s profitability. The extremely high volatility, geopolitical and macroeconomic developments combined with the energy crisis, unstable supply chains, the war in Ukraine and Covid outbreaks continue to be uncertainty factors.

PALFINGER’s order volume extends into Q3 of 2023 and is therefore expected to contribute to achieving the revenue target of over EUR 2 billion in 2022. The board is aiming for EBIT of approximately last year’s level. This underlines PALFINGER’s strong performance in an extremely challenging environment.