DUNGANNON-headquartered Terex Materials Processing has reported a "great start" to its trading year, with first-quarter sales soaring 10 per cent against 2018 figures, driven by continued strong global demand for crushing and screening products, material handlers and 'pick and carry' equipment.
The US-owned manufacturing giant, which in March invested £12m in a new 105,000 sq ft factory at Campsie employing 100 staff, sold $346 million (£265 million) through its materials processing (MP) division in the first quarter.
And it also has a backlog of $499 million (£382m) in a bulging order book, an increase of 11 per cent on a year ago, and says it is well positioned across its portfolio of businesses to deliver excellent results again in 2019.
Kieran Hegarty, president of Terex Materials Processing, said: “We had a great start to 2019 thanks to strong global demand driven by construction activity, aggregate consumption and robust demand for scrap steel.
“We expect strong results to continue fuelled by innovations that will excite our existing customers and geographic expansion that will enable us to serve more customers globally.
“For example, at the recent Bauma expo, the largest construction machinery trade fair in the world, we showcased our 'OMNI by Terex' tablet-based control system that uses internet-of-things technology to revolutionise the crushing and screening jobsite. This will improve safety and productivity and further differentiate our MP product lines.
“Geographically, we’re seeing increasing demand for our products in regions such as India – so we are expanding our Hosur facility to better serve customers throughout the region.”
At a group level, the New York stock exchange-listed Terex Corporation had first quarter net sales of $1.1 billion (£840m), up 2 per cent on the first quarter of 2018.
Backlog also increased by 2 per cent on the same period last year to $1.7 billion (£1.3bn), with global markets for all product categories generally stable at healthy levels.
Terex MP, which operates from nine factories across the north including Dungannon, Omagh, Derry and Ballymoney, designs and manufactures mobile crushing, screening and washing equipment, and its main product lines include Powerscreen, Terex Finlay, and Terex Mineral.
