Impeccable timing

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By Dwain Duxson - An Ag Enthusiast

Impeccable timing - There's an interesting article floating around about what's happened post-deal with Titan buying out of O'Connors, the Case IH Machinery Dealer. The price was apparently US$100 million (Note how all the figures are in US dollars) which was on the back of revenue of US$270 million which is now back to US$230 million across 16 Dealerships.

The US$100 million price tag was on the back of projected sales of US$258 million and an actual annual before-tax profit of US21.4 million. Since Titan has taken over, the quarterly profit or loss has been a loss of US$0.5 million and a small profit of US$1.4 million.

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Titan is said to be somewhat blindsided by what's happened, but when you look at it closely, the O'Connor guys picked the perfect time to exit, and the Titan crew, in contrast, picked the worst time to enter.

Where to from here for Titan? They are big enough and ugly enough to ride it out with their 140 dealerships worldwide. Surely, they would know that in Ag, things can turn quickly (both ways), which is what has happened here. It just goes to show that some things in business are all about timing, and this deal is a great example of that. It will be an interesting watch this one, considering many in the Machinery world think that Case and New Holland brands will become one. Read the full article here. What do you read into the deal? Reply to dwaind@farmtender.com.au

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