Haulotte Posts COVID-Affected 35 Percent Revenue Decline in First Half
In half-year results strongly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Haulotte posted €222.7 million in total revenue, compared to €342.6 million for the first half of 2019, a 35-percent decline. Equipment sales dropped 36 percent, from €305.8 million to €195.6 million. Rental sales declined 38.2 percent, from €11 million to €6.8 million. Service revenue dropped 21.3 percent from €25.8 million to €20.3 million.
The COVID-19 health crisis impacted the vast majority of Haulotte’s activities on a worldwide basis, beginning in China in January, forcing the company to close its commercial and industrial activities there for a while. The impact became dramatic in Europe in March and in North and Latin America in April.
Sales in Europe dropped 39 percent year over year, with almost all markets posting sharp second quarter declines. In Asia-Pacific, half year sales slid 23 percent, despite a strong rebound of sales in China during the second quarter. China was the only significant market in the world to grow during the second quarter. The North American market plunged 28 percent during the period, with the mobile elevating work platform market holding its own. The Latin Amerian market, with difficult economic and political problems, was aggravated by the pandemic, resulting in a 47-percent slide during the half year period.
In this unprecedented context, Haulotte submitted to all of its lenders of the syndicated loan a request for a waiver of the bank covenants for two periods (June and December 2020) and a request for an extension for an additional year of the maturity. These requests were unanimously accepted without any condition on June 30, 2020. Therefore, the maturity date of the loan contract has been changed to July 17, 2025.
Given the very uncertain environment, where the lack of visibility remains a reality, Haulotte forecasts a decline in sales of 25 percent to 30 percent in 2020, but expects an operating income (excluding exchange gain and loss) to remain positive at year-end.
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.