Astec 2Q Sales up 4.8%, Backlogs Up 140%

Astec second-quarter 2021 sales totaled $278 million, up 4.8 percent from the same period in 2020. Domestic sales dropped 9.2 percent for the quarters, with the company citing labor shortages, component availability, and “customer readiness to accept deliveries.”

Backlog increased 140 percent to $436.1 million compared to $181.9 million a year ago. Domestic backlog increased by 164 percent to $338.8 million.

Operating profit of $11.2 million in the second quarter of 2021 increased 2.8 percent compared to operating profit of $10.9 million in the second quarter of 2020. Adjusted operating income was $14.1 million, down 25 percent from $18.8 million in Q2 2020.

“We posted a solid second quarter as we continued to see strong demand for Astec products as demonstrated by our record backlog,” said CEO Barry Ruffalo in a prepared statement. “Our operational excellence initiatives helped mitigate the impact of an inflationary environment and challenging labor market.”

The company said potential labor shortages at vendors and logistics partners have increased lead times for certain components. Steel prices continue to increase and are expected to increase through the rest of the year.

In certain manufacturing locations, Astec has experienced a shortage of necessary production personnel and increasing labor costs to attract staff in manufacturing operations. This resulted in a variety of challenges in running operations efficiently as well as meeting manufacturing demand. The company is adjusting production schedules and manufacturing workload distribution, outsourcing components, implementing efficiency improvements as well as actively modifying recruitment process and compensation and benefits to attract and retain production personnel in our manufacturing facilities.

Source: Astec