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Best of NAMA 2024












9 MONTHS: ALAMO GROUP'S SALES DOWN 2%, NET INCOME DOWN 17%: $88 MILLION
Source: Alamo Group news release

Year-to-Date Results

For the first nine months of 2024, net sales of $1.2 billion were 2.3% below the prior year's first nine months. Gross margin of $320.7 million or 25.8% of net sales compared to $344.7 million or 27.1% of net sales in the prior year.

Industrial Equipment Division net sales of $617.8 million grew 21.8%, offsetting lower Vegetation Management Division net sales of $625.4 million, which declined by 18.2% year over year.

Net income for the first nine months was $87.8 million or $7.30 per diluted share, compared to $104.6 million or $8.73 per diluted share in the same period last year.

As part of our commitment to optimize operations and enhance shareholder value, we are diligently executing cost saving initiatives inclusive of plant consolidations and workforce reductions. In the first nine months of 2024, we incurred approximately $3.2 million in employee separation costs and expect the total cost to be between $4.0 million to $4.5 million. Through these ongoing actions, we anticipate achieving annualized cost savings in the range of $25 to $30 million. We have already begun to see some of these savings in the third quarter, with further savings expected to accelerate over the next 12 months.

Comments on Results

Jeff Leonard, Alamo Group's President, and Chief Executive Officer commented, "Our financial results for the third quarter were largely in line with our expectations given the conditions prevalent in our markets. As we experienced in the second quarter, market activity across our two segments continued to diverge.

"Demand for products and services offered by the Industrial Equipment Division remained historically strong in all areas during the third quarter. Spending by governmental agencies to upgrade and modernize maintenance fleets continued at a good pace. In addition, demand from industrial contractors remained strong, and rental fleet utilization was at a healthy level. We were pleased that demand for snow removal equipment remained strong in the third quarter. This Division reported solid sales growth and excellent profitability in the third quarter and its backlog remained elevated.

"The softness in markets for Vegetation Management equipment continued during the quarter as elevated interest rates and a challenging macro economy constrained demand. Sales for agricultural mowers and related equipment were muted as farm incomes remained under pressure. Farm equipment dealer inventory, despite coming down most of this year, remained elevated. Weakness in the US housing sector continued to suppress demand for our forestry and tree care products during the quarter. Governmental mowing was once again a bright spot for this Division, and we were pleased to see that our new Mantis prime mover continued to gain acceptance among state and municipal agencies. With difficulties in forestry and agriculture, the Division's net sales declined 23% compared to the third quarter of 2023. The Division's operating margin declined under pressure from costs associated with inventory reduction actions, excess capacity, lower efficiency and separation costs.

"To address the weakness in our Vegetation Management Division, during the third quarter we initiated additional efficiency improvement measures aimed at further reducing excess manufacturing capacity. These measures include the sale of our Herschel Parts business to F.P. Bourgalt Tillage Tools Ltd., consolidation of manufacturing of the rotary mowers and other agricultural products, and consolidation of manufacturing of forestry and tree care products. These consolidations will improve the efficiency and utilization of our larger facilities while reducing longer-term capital requirements.

"When completed, these measures will reduce the Company's worldwide total production capacity by approximately 8%. As a result of the large facility consolidations and associated personnel reductions, the Company's employee population has declined approximately 10% since January of this year. While the impact of these decisions to our employees is regrettable, ongoing Vegetation Management market weakness demanded that we take significant actions.

"As we look to the end of 2024, our outlook remains cautious as we are not expecting material changes in market conditions in the final weeks of 2024. We continue to anticipate that governmental demand for our products will be strong for the remainder of 2024 and well into the first half of 2025 at least. Our optimism in the strength of the governmental markets is only modestly tempered by the fact that National elections are imminent in the U.S., and the future direction of Federal fiscal policy is uncertain.

"As we look further, we are currently not anticipating significant improvement in the agricultural equipment market until late 2025. The outlook in forestry and tree care is somewhat better. The significant damage caused by the recent storms in the Southeastern United States is beginning to drive demand for the Company's woodchippers, grinders, and land clearing equipment to support the huge cleanup effort. We are also optimistic that the housing market will gradually improve given the current outlook for additional interest rate reductions in 2025. A turnaround in housing starts would provide a solid boost to demand for forestry and tree care equipment.

"Given this background, and with confidence in our ability to complete the consolidation activities now underway as well as the strength in our industrial and governmental businesses, we remain encouraged about the Company's prospects for 2025 and beyond."


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