German compact equipment specialist Wacker Neuson has reported revenues of €434.6m in the first quarter of this year, a 17% rise compared to the same period last year.

The Munich-headquartered company also reported a 31.3%, rise in profit before interest and tax (EBIT) to €30.2m and an improved EBIT margin to 6.9%, a rise of 0.7 percentage points year-on-year.

Wacker Neuson CEO Martin Lehner said the group had performed well in Europe despite obstacles to continued growth such as increased production and logistics costs. The UK market had performed particularly well, with dumpers and excavators seeing strong growth, he said.

Lehner added that the company’s challenges included changes in the product mix at some factories, such as in Linz, Austria, following the downsizing of Wacker Neuson’s involvement with Caterpillar.

“This strong start to the year sees us continue the dynamic pace of growth from the fourth quarter of 2018. Demand for our products and services is high and this has helped us gain market shares in many countries. Throughout the whole of 2018, we had to contend with major bottlenecks in the global supply chain. Although the situation has not been fully resolved, it has improved significantly in 2019,” Lehner said.

“Due to the positive market and order situation, we built up more inventory in recent months than in previous years. Stocks will return to normal levels over the course of the fiscal year as revenue increases during the summer months and we gradually start to decrease our stock of pre-buy engines. We also expect receivables to decrease during the course of the year, which will have a positive impact on the development of cash flow.”