MANITOWOC CO INC Q4 FY2024 earnings call

• Safety: Ended 2024 with a recordable incident rate (RIR) of 1.19, the second-best in company history; first aid incidents reduced by 25% year over year, and lost time injuries severity decreased. Goal remains zero injuries.
• Environmental: Reduced greenhouse gas intensity by 6% in 2024, equating to ~$100,000 in savings; since 2019, total reduction in intensity is 36%.
• Innovation: Maintenance team in Portugal won an award for building an automated welding torch tester costing €50, integrating IoT tools to track TPMs, modifying papers to reduce emissions/gas consumption, and applying 5S to the maintenance area.
• Market Performance: Q4 orders totaled $516 million, backlog ended at $650 million. Americas rebounded post-US election; Europe tower crane orders up for second quarter in a row; Middle East market robust; Asia Pacific mixed with China construction not recovering and intense competition; South Korea had cancellations/hot deal dry-ups; Australia steady.

Total revenue for the fourth quarter was $596 million. Trailing twelve-month non-new machine sales reached a record high of $629 million. Full-year net sales were $2.178 billion. Adjusted EBITDA for the full year was $128 million. In the fourth quarter, the company generated $100 million of free cash flow and ended the year with $321 million in liquidity. Non-new machine sales, which are less cyclical, contributed $629 million in the trailing twelve months, representing a significant portion of the company's revenue.

• 2025 net sales guidance: Midpoint of $2.175 billion to $2.275 billion.
• Adjusted EBITDA guidance: $120 million to $145 million.
• Operational free cash flow guidance: $55 million to $85 million (excluding EPA matter impact).
• Q1 2025 expected to be extremely light, contributing half of typical Q1 adjusted EBITDA.

• Uncertainty in global markets including US interest rates/tariffs, European market recovery, intense Asia Pacific competition (especially China), and political upheaval in South Korea affecting sales.
• Inventory and cash flow timing issues impacting previous guidance.
• Legal matter with US EPA potentially affecting cash flow.

Q: Your guidance implies sales up a bit at the midpoint. Can you talk about where that embeds things regionally?

A: It's marginally better. Europe is slightly better, US is slightly better, but Asia continues to be uncertain, especially South Korea.

Q: Can you talk about how used values for cranes have trended throughout the quarter and into 2025?

A: In terms of used crane values, it always depends on the age and model of the crane. There's not been much change; Ritchie Bros. numbers typically relate to last resort cranes, and we're doing deals directly with more interesting models/marketplaces so prices haven't gone down or up significantly.