Order intake and the order book also developed “very well,” Demag said. Compared to the prior year’s figure, order intake grew exclusively in organic terms by 9.9% to Euros 353million.
The main driving forces behind this development were the industrial cranes and port technology segments. On the balance sheet date (as at March 31 2008), the order book was up by 22.2% to Euros 492.2m. At the end of the first six months, the group recorded an increase in the order intake volume of 8.8% to Euros 648m.
The industrial cranes segment profited from ongoing keen demand for products. At Euros 197.4m, order intake went up significantly by 14.9% over the previous year. In a year-on-year of the first six months, this figure rose by 13.6% to Euros 343.6m.
In particular, the standard and process cranes product lines contributed to this positive performance, Demag said. At Euros 312.6m, the order book was 32.4% higher than the prior year’s figure on the same date.
Order intake in the port technology segment grew in a quarterly year-on-year comparison by 9.1% to Euros 71m. In a year-on-year of the first six months, order intake increased by 2.4%.
As the mainstay of this segment is based almost exclusively on project business with a relatively low number of units, segment order intake is subject to fluctuations during the year.
At Euros 127.9m, the order book was 12.5% higher compared to the prior year’s figure. In the services segment, order intake rose slightly to Euros 84.7m compared to the same quarter of the prior year.
In a year-on-year comparison for the first six months, this figure was up 5.1% to Euros 167.3m. The order book remained at the same level of the prior year’s balance sheet date.