“The new year is already looking like a completely different story compared to 2020,” says Paul Reitz, president and CEO of Titan International Inc.
Titan’s net sales for 2020 totaled $1.26 billion, down $189.4 million from 2019. However, the company’s fourth quarter 2020 sales totaled $326.9 million, a $25 million jump from the same period in 2019. And Titan’s adjusted EBITDA for full-year 2020 totaled $54 million, a 41.6% increase from 2019.
“We finished the year with a significant turnaround during Q4, as demand from many of our customers, particularly in the agriculture markets, continued to strengthen as the quarter progressed.
"The confidence of U.S. farmers is at record levels with the tailwinds from strong commodity prices and healthy government payments received last year,” he says. "Dealers are hungry for inventory as channels have been depleted to the lowest levels seen in the past 20 years.
“As seen in our fourth quarter results, the momentum is building and 2021 is off and running in a very positive direction.
“Last year is thankfully over and amidst the challenges of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Titan team remained focused on the imperative to improve our financial position," notes Reitz.
"The positive trends that we saw late in 2020 have only increased during the first few months of 2021. We expect this favorable trend in South America to continue, along with North America demand accelerating through 2021 due to strong farmer income and commodity prices combined with low levels of inventory in many channels.
“Along with market improvements, we are seeing an improved pricing environment. In the first quarter of 2021, we have increased prices to offset rising raw material costs. We will continue to increase prices to offset higher production costs, and as the year progresses, we expect to improve our pricing leverage to manage our gross margins.”
