The Manitowoc Company reported sales of $955.7 million for the third quarter of 2012, an increase of 2.2 percent compared to sales of $935.4 million in the third quarter of 2011. The sales increase was primarily driven by a 4.9 percent increase in Crane segment sales (10.4 percent at consistent foreign currency translation rates).

Crane Segment Results

Third-quarter 2012 net sales in the Crane segment were $555.1 million, up from $529.4 million in the third quarter of 2011, driven primarily by continued growth in the Americas region, which was offset by lower demand in Europe and Asia.

The 4.9 percent sales growth was achieved in spite of a negative $29.4 million impact from currency exchange, coupled with supply chain disruptions. Correction of the latter issue is expected in the fourth quarter.
Crane segment backlog totaled $976 million as of September 30, 2012, a 25.9 percent increase from $775 million in the prior-year quarter. Third-quarter 2012 orders of $582 million were 22.3 percent higher than the third quarter of 2011.

"The Crane order increase was particularly noteworthy, given that the third quarter is typically seasonally soft. Orders were driven by demand across multiple product categories, including rough-terrain cranes and all-terrain cranes, as well as strengthening demand in smaller-capacity crawler cranes. However, the unfavorable macroeconomic environment continues to impact many of our European and Asian markets, as well as our tower crane and large crawler crane product lines," Glen E. Tellock, Manitowoc's chairman and chief executive officer explained.

Read the full Manitowoc Company earnings press release.