Second quarter surge for JLG

JLG’s net sales increased 28.3% to $927.9 million in the second quarter of the 2018 financial year. The increase was thanks to improved demand for aerial work platforms and telehandlers, said the company. All regions reported double digit increases in sales in the second quarter, compared to the second quarter of the 2017 financial year.

Operating income increased an impressive 132.1% to $97.7 million, or 10.5% of sales in the second quarter, compared to $42.1 million, or 5.8% of sales in the same period last year.

The results included pre-tax charges and inefficiencies associated with previously announced restructuring costs of $5.2 million and $17.2 million. Excluding these costs, operating income was $102.9 million, or 11.1% of sales, compared to $59.3 million, or 8.2% of sales, in the previous second quarter.

The increase in adjusted operating income was primarily due to higher sales volume, said the company, along with receipt of deferred revenue and improvements in pricing. This was offset in part by challenges associated with the ramp up to higher production volumes.

Its parent company, Oshkosh Corporation, reported consolidated net sales in the second quarter of $1.89 billion, an increase of 16.6%. Consolidated operating income increased 93.9% $155.9 million, or 8.3% of sales.

Wilson Jones, president and chief executive officer of Oshkosh Corporation, said, “We continued to benefit in the quarter from a positive economic environment in the US and strong demand globally for our products.

“We are also experiencing some challenges related to the positive economic environment, including a tight labour market, a more constrained supply chain and higher logistics and material costs. We are proactively addressing these headwinds, including implementing steel and aluminium surcharges in our non-defence segments.

“As a result of our solid second quarter performance and our positive outlook for the remainder of the year, we are raising our full-year fiscal 2018 earnings per share estimate range to $5.10 to $5.55 and our adjusted earnings per share estimate range to $5.40 to $5.85,” said Jones.