On Wednesday, Milwaukee-based machinery company Actuant provided its fourth quarter and full year 2015 fiscal report for the period ended Aug. 31.
In Q4, Actuant total sales were $300.4 million, down 15.2 percent from Q4 2014. Actuant said 8 percent of the decline was due to currency headwinds, while core sales were down 7 percent. Fourth quarter profit tumbled 38 percent year-over-year to $22.1 million.
Q4 Sales in Actuant's Industrial segment were $100 million, down 11 percent YOY. The company noted a 6 percent currency headwind, while core sales declined 5 percent. Actuant's Energy segment sales were $100.8 million, down 18 percent YOY. Currency headwinds accounted for 10 percent of the decline, while core sales decreased 8 percent. Engineered Solutions sales of $99.5 million were 17 percent down YOY, with 8 percent attributable to currency headwinds.
"Fourth quarter sales and operating earnings were in line with our expectations and reflect the continuing impact of the downturn across key end markets including energy, agriculture and general industrial," said Robert Arzbaecher, Actuant CEO. Our focus remains on tightly managing costs while continuing to fund our best growth initiatives across the businesses.
"Given our expectations of continued sluggish demand in fiscal 2016, we are undertaking actions to further simplify our business and rationalize the cost structure," he continued.
For the full year 2015, Actuant sales of $1.3 billion were down 10.8 percent from 2014. The company said 6 percent of the decline was due to currency headwinds, while core sales decreased 5 percent. 2015 profit was $19.9 million, compared to 2014's $163.6 million.
​Arzbaecher said the company projects full year 2016 sales in the range of $1.16-$1.20 billion, with a core sales decline of 1-4 percent and a negative $40 million impact from currency headwinds. Actuant projects Q1 sales of $275-285 million, with a 7-9 percent core sales decline.
"We are taking specific actions that we expect will help deliver 18 percent EBITDA margins in fiscal 2018, up from approximately 15 percent today," Arzbeacher said. "The majority of this improvement will be driven by internal initiatives such as simplification of organization structures and the next phase of facility consolidations."
