Forecast down at Manitowoc

The Manitowoc Company in the US has announced that "current trends in the end markets for its businesses, particularly for the Crane segment, are driving financial performance that is significantly softer than projected when the company announced its full-year 2009 guidance in January." As a result the company said it is withdrawing its previous 2009 full-year guidance and will not be issuing new guidance.

Demand from around the world for the company's cranes "continues to decline further than previously anticipated due to the continuing global recession. Accordingly, the company no longer believes that it will be able to achieve its previous guidance for sales, earnings per share, or cash flow. The company's first quarter results for earnings per share from continuing operations are anticipated to be more than 50% below the current Wall Street average estimate," a company statement read.

Action Manitowoc is taking to mitigate the impact of the downturn designed to "preserve the company's long-term opportunities and its ability to capture business when markets improve." Measures include reducing the workforce worldwide, limiting capital expenditure primarily to new product development, production efficiency, and safety. There are also temporary production shutdowns and less out-sourcing.

"We have reached an agreement to fulfill our obligation to sell the Enodis ice business and can now focus entirely on operating our two strategic lines of business: cranes and commercial foodservice equipment. This is an important event for the company that provides an additional deleveraging opportunity. Manitowoc has been through downturns before. Our management team successfully navigated the company through those times. Although the pathway out of this downturn will be challenging, I am confident that Manitowoc will emerge as the leader in its industries stronger than it was before," said Glen Tellock, Manitowoc chairman, president, and chief executive.