Rental revenues fall for Finning

Canada-based Finning International, the largest dealer of manufacturer Caterpillar, has cut its workforce and restructured after a challenging three quarters that saw its results take a hit.

Total revenues for the nine months ended 30 September fell 9% year-on-year to CA$4.6 billion (€3.2 billion), of which rental revenues were down 16% year-on-year to CA$223 million (€156 million).

Revenues from product support, Finning’s largest division by sales, grew 1% against last year to CA$2.53 billion (€1.77 billion).

New equipment sales reported a 23% drop compared to the same nine months in 2014 to CA$1.66 billion (€1.16 billion), while used equipment sales grew 34% to CA$250 million (€175 million).

Net income for the nine months was down 30% year-on-year to CA$148 million (€104 million).

Scott Thomson, president and CEO of Finning International, said, “In line with significant steps already taken to adjust to the economic downturn, we took further decisive actions to reduce costs and implement sustainable operational improvements as market conditions weakened in the third quarter.”

He said those steps included reducing the size of our global workforce by 1,900 people since the beginning of the year and 2,500 people since the start of the downturn in mid-2013.

“We also continued to restructure our Canadian branch network, effectively reducing our facility footprint by over 20% since the beginning of the year, to optimise the utilisation of our assets throughout the cycle.

“While these are difficult decisions, we believe we are taking the right path to adjust our business to market realities and ensure financial strength, while simultaneously positioning Finning to deliver customer service more effectively and efficiently over the long-term.

“Going forward, we will continue to implement operating improvements which earn our customers' loyalty, and maintain cost and capital discipline as we manage through persistent market uncertainty.”