Record revenue for Palfinger

Austrian crane manufacturer Palfinger said it will achieve a revenue mark of EUR 2 billion ($1.98 billion) in 2022.

Palfinger’s HQ in Bergheim, Austria (Photo: Palfinger)

“Despite the volatile economic environment worldwide, impending recession, and supply chains that are still unstable, [it] is within reach,” the company said.

Palfinger said that whilst its order backlog remains at a high level, uncertainty is increasingly affecting demand, particularly in EMEA. In Q1 to Q3 of 2022, the Bergheim based group recorded revenues of EUR 1,580.9 million ($1.57 million).

Global market changes

While geopolitical developments are weakening the market in EMEA and the Covid pandemic continues to negatively impact the market in APAC, NAM and LATAM stand out as growth drivers due to their positive market environment, the company said. It noted that the Latin American market is undergoing a significant upswing as a result of strong demand, particularly in mining.

It said the North American market benefits from its lower energy costs, more stable supply chains and high demand on the domestic market and its repositioning of its truck mounted forklifts (TMF) has been popular in the USA.

Palfinger also entered the offshore wind market in Vietnam and has expanded its Löbau production site into a hub for access platforms.

Electronic supply chain issues

“The volatile and challenging environment demands maximum flexibility in production from us,” commented Palfinger CEO Andreas Klauser. “The high order backlog and good level of output are offset by supply difficulties, particularly for electronic components. Together with the difficult delivery situation for trucks, this results in high inventory stocks in production and finished products. Minimum inventories have also been increased in a targeted manner due to unstable supply chains.”

Dynamic pricing

Price increases and exchange rate effects have a significant impact on Palfinger’s revenue growth.

“In order to be able to present all cost factors transparently and promptly for us and our customers and to stabilize our own profitability, we are switching to dynamic pricing which will take effect from 2023,” said Andreas Klauser.

Palfinger has committed to setting up its own energy task force to measure the reduction of energy consumption and the partial substitution of natural gas.

Impact on profit

Palfinger’s order backlog remains high and it said that in the coming months further price increases will take effect that will have a positive impact on profitability. The high volatility, geopolitical and macroeconomic developments combined with the energy crisis, unstable supply chains, the war in Ukraine and Covid outbreaks continue to be uncertainty factors.