Canadian Distributor Wajax Posts Revenue Gain of 17.3 Percent in Third Quarter
Canadian distributor Wajax reported CDN $470.8 million in third quarter 2022 revenue compared to $401.3 million in the third quarter of 2021, a 17.3-percent increase. Equipment sales were $136.9 million compared to $104.7 million in the third quarter of 2021, a.8-percent gain. Product support increased 3.9 percent, Industrial Parts 21.2 percent, and engineered repaired services 12.9 percent.
Equipment rental improved from $9.2 million in Q321 to $10.3 million in this year’s third, a 12-percent hike.
"Wajax delivered excellent operational results in the third quarter, with revenues of $470.8 million and adjusted EBITDA of $39.1 million,” said Iggy Domagalski, president and CEO. “The business continues to perform strongly, with robust heavy equipment sales, particularly in the construction and forestry category. This is due in part to our expanded direct distribution relationship with Hitachi, which took effect on March 1, 2022. To date, we have been exceptionally pleased with the growth enabled by this enhanced relationship with Hitachi, and continue to see even further potential, expecting that the relationship will continue to expand and drive greater equipment sales and product support revenue.
"Industrial parts and ERS sales have also shown robust year-over-year growth, due in part to elevated commodity prices and capital spending by customers across all regions. During the first half of 2022, improved cash flow from operations allowed us to make early repayment of our acquisition credit facility and fund two tuck-in acquisitions, further expanding our ERS footprint and service offerings. During the quarter, we continued to see overall strength in our backlog, which increased to a record $558.8 million. This momentum is being driven by sound fundamentals in many of our key markets, supported by higher commodity prices and capital spending as customers work to source equipment and services that were constrained during the COVID-19 pandemic."
For the first nine months of 2022, Wajax posted $1,421.5 million in revenue, compared to $1,234.5 million for the first nine months of 2021, a 15.1-percent hike.
Wajax is No. 71 on the RER 100. It is based in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.
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.