Demand for Freighter trailers up as capacity constraints dent Maxi-Cube order book
Trailers company MaxiTrans Industries has recorded a 27 per cent increase in net profits for the six months to 31 December 2017 on the back of a major contract with Coles.
The company recorded a net profit after tax of $7.7 million for the half, while total revenue reached $214.1 million, up 25 per cent on the year before.
The Coles contract, signed in April last year, helped lift the profits of the company’s trailers division by 37 per cent in the half, due to additional sales of the company’s temperature-controlled Maxi-Cube and general freight Freighter products.
MaxiTrans said it was on track to fulfil Coles’ order of 395 trailers, but noted that its order book for the Maxi-Cube products was down 32 per cent on the previous corresponding period due to the capacity constraints that meeting the contract had created.
But even without the Coles contract, MaxiTrans’ trailer order book was up 17 per cent on the same period in 2017, with unit sales of its Freighter products up 35 per cent and the order book up 70 per cent on the previous corresponding period.
MaxiTrans said there were significantly greater orders for its general freight-carrying Freighter products for the year ahead, while orders for its Maxi-Cube and tipper products were lower than at the same time last year.
The company recorded an 18 per cent increase in sales of agricultural tipper product sales, driven by expected strong winter crop conditions, though sales of construction tippers fell 6.5 per cent.
Looking overseas, sales revenues grew 45 per cent in New Zealand during the period but profits were adversely impacted by a number of one-off warranty claims.
And in China, while revenue from the company’s Maxi-Cube Tong Composites business improved 12 per cent in local currency terms, profits were adversely affected by higher material costs which the company was unable to pass on.
The company expects to record a stronger profit from New Zealand in the second half of the financial year, with the Chinese arm to focus on margin improvement during this time.