JLG Reports 19% Operating Income Increase in First Quarter

JLG Industries, the access equipment division of Oshkosh Corp., reported a 19.2-percent increase in operating income to $24.4 million, or 5.0 percent of sales, in the first quarter of fiscal 2017 compared to $20.4 million, or 3.9 percent of sales, in the first quarter of fiscal 2016.

Meanwhile, new sales were down 7.7 percent in the first quarter to $489.2 million, primarily due to lower sales volumes in North America and Europe. The timing of new product development spending and a favorable product mix more than offset the impact of lower sales, according to a release from the company.

“We are pleased to report fiscal first quarter results that exceeded both the prior year and our expectations. This is a great way to kick off 2017, the year of our 100^th anniversary at Oshkosh Corporation. Company-wide, our teams executed well. In particular, we experienced better than anticipated performance from our access equipment and defense segments,” said Wilson Jones, president and chief executive officer of Oshkosh Corporation.

“As part of simplification activities in support of the Company’s MOVE strategy, we are also announcing plans to rationalize operations in our access equipment segment by consolidating our manufacturing footprint in Europe and the United States," he continued. "In addition, we are streamlining telehandler offerings to a reduced range in Europe to simplify our portfolio. These are difficult actions, but we believe they are necessary to position our company for long-term success. Once fully implemented, we expect these actions to generate $20 million to $25 million of annual pre-tax savings. We expect pre-tax implementation costs of $45 million to $50 million, including $10 million of non-cash charges, the majority of which we expect to recognize in fiscal 2017.

“Our overall outlook for fiscal 2017 is unchanged from our last quarterly earnings call and we continue to be confident about the future opportunities for Oshkosh Corporation. As a result of the restructuring actions, our expectations for fiscal 2017 earnings per share are in a range of $2.50 to $2.90. We are reiterating our expectations for fiscal 2017 adjusted¹ earnings per share to be in a range of $3.00 to $3.40,” said Jones.

For more about Oshkosh's first-quarter performance...