Foreign Currency Headwinds Challenge Briggs & Stratton in Fiscal First Quarter

Oct. 30, 2015

2 min read

Engine and equipment manufacturer Briggs & Stratton posted a small 1.1-percent decrease in its fiscal 2016 first quarter, with $289 million compared to $292 million the previous year, primarily because of unfavorable foreign currency impact related to the weakening of the Euro, the Australian dollar and the Brazilian real. Excluding currency impacts, net sales increased $8 million. The increase was driven by the results of acquisitions of Allmand Bros. and Billy Goat Industries completed during fiscal 2015, higher shipments of small engines used on walk mowers and increased sales of commercial lawn and garden equipment.

For the quarter, consolidated net loss was $15.2 million, compared to $9.3 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2015.

“Our first quarter results were better than we expected, driven by solid late-season activity in the major lawn and garden markets, especially in the U.S.,” said Todd Teske, chairman, president and CEO. “We believe the late-season activity has resulted in more normal channel inventories compared to the end of last season. Also we are encouraged by the continued profitability improvement of our Products business through a focus on selling high-end residential and commercial products while improving the efficiency of our operation. While these factors are encouraging, we are cautious about the global economy and continued foreign currency headwinds as well as continued low oil prices which negatively impact a portion of our jobsite product sales.”

Briggs & Stratton Corp. is based in Milwaukee.

About the Author

Michael Roth

Editor

Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.