The firm attributed its positive sales performance to both the strengthening of the US market and improved sales figures outside of the US market, which rose by 23.3% to account for 48% of the firm’s total sales compared to last year’s 45%.
Along with increasing Eurozone capacity utilization, a favourable exchange rate compared to the same period last year also contributed $1.2m to the company’s revenue.
Sales increased to $144m in Q4 2011 from $123m in the same period last year, with the company’s order backlog increasing to the tune of $21m between Q4 2010 and Q4 2011. Pro Forma earnings per share (EPS) doubled from 10¢ to 20¢.
Columbus McKinnon president and CEO, Timothy Tevens, commented: “We had a very encouraging quarter as our expanded market reach helped us to take market share while we also benefited from the strengthening global economy.
“We have continued our investment in people, operations and new products as well as our expanding global presence. We are gaining excellent traction in China and Latin America, two rapidly growing economies, and believe our quality products and full offering of equipment used to ergonomically lift, position and secure material – in addition to our expanded sales operations – provide us a strong competitive advantage.”
A more than five-fold increase in net income from $460,000 in Q4 2010 to $2.5m for Q4 2011 resulted in a 6.5% increase in operating margin over the same period, which is the highest level the firm’s operating margin has reached in nine quarters.
