Manitex International, Inc. Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2008 Results

$27.8 Million in Revenues and $0.02 in Diluted EPS in Fourth Quarter

$106 Million in revenues and $0.17 in Diluted EPS for the full year

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill., March 11, 2009: Manitex International, Inc., a leading provider of engineered lifting solutions including boom truck cranes, rough terrain forklifts and special mission oriented vehicles, today announced unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and twelve months ended December 31, 2008.

"2008 was a year of continued progress for Manitex International," said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Langevin. "Challenged by severe softening in our markets, amid global economic turbulence, and the rapid increase in our material costs for much of the year, we increased our market share and continued to generate cash and positive EPS throughout the year. With the continued development of our products, the addition of new distribution outlets, and implementation of our international strategy, we believe that we are well- positioned to participate in the infrastructure and energy programs that we expect to be implemented over the next several years."

Full Year 2008 highlights included: (1)

  --  2008 revenue and net income from continuing operations of $106.3
      million and $1.8 million respectively. Diluted EPS from continuing
      operations of $0.17, which includes restructuring cost impact of
      ($0.03) per share.
  --  2008 net income increased 130% to $2.2 million from $1.0 million of
      net income in 2007, equivalent to $0.21 per diluted share after
      restructuring cost impact of ($0.03) per share and EPS of $0.02 per
      share from discontinued operations and EPS of $0.02 per share from
      gain on sale of discontinued operations.
  --  Actions taken to improve operations and balance capacity with demand
      resulted in restructuring costs of $0.3 million for the year, of which
      $0.1 million was incurred in the fourth quarter.
  --  Extended and increased credit facilities. Availability under lines of
      credit of approximately $7.0 million at December 31, 2008.
  --  Working capital of $23.6 million at December 31, 2008, and a current
      ratio(3) of 2.4, compared to a current ratio(3) of 2.2 at December 31,
      2007.
  --  EBITDA (2) from continuing operations of $5.4 million for the twelve
      months ended December 31, 2008.
  --  Manitex cranes continued to increase market share in a market that
      declined over 36% in 2008 as compared to 2007.
  --  Continued to expand product and parts portfolio and strategic
      development with acquisition of Crane and Schaeff in October 2008, and
      development of international products and distributors.

  Fourth quarter highlights included: (1)

  --  Fourth quarter revenue increased by 2% to $27.8 million compared with
      revenues of $27.3 million for the 2007 fourth quarter.  Fourth quarter
      2008 revenues include $3.7 million from the acquisition of Schaeff and
      Crane & Machinery.
  --  Net income from continuing operations of $0.3 million, which includes
      restructuring charges of $0.1 million, and $0.1 million in net income
      from the acquisition of Schaeff and Crane & Machinery, was equivalent
      to diluted EPS from continuing operations of $0.02 per share.
  --  EBITDA (2) from continuing operations of $1.3 million for the fourth
      quarter of 2008 compared to $1.4 million in third quarter of 2008.

"The fourth quarter of 2008 was particularly challenging as customers' credit contracted, order intake slowed and we received some order cancellations as projects were halted," commented Andrew Rooke, Manitex International President and Chief Operating Officer. "Our response to this environment has been to rapidly adjust capacity to this lower demand throughout the organization. We have implemented across-the-board cost reductions with the objective of remaining profitable through this economic downturn. These actions commenced in the fourth quarter of 2008 and should continue to be a partial offset to any continued market weakness into 2009. We expect to achieve approximately $5 million in annualized cost reduction," added Mr. Rooke.

Mr. Rooke further commented, "We ended 2008 with operating working capital as a percentage of three month annualized sales of 24.5%. One of our goals is to continue to aggressively manage working capital along with the generation of cash from operations with the objective of achieving approximately $8 million in positive cash flow from these primary sources."

(1) The financial data for all years presented reflects the former Testing and Assembly Equipment segment as a discontinued operation.

(2) EBITDA is a non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America) financial measure. This measure may be different from non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies. We encourage investors to review the section below entitled "Non-GAAP Financial Measures."

(3) Current ratio is equal to current assets divided by current liabilities.

Conference Call

Today, March 11, 2009 management will host a conference call at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss the results with the investment community.

Anyone interested in participating should call 800-762-8795 if calling within the United States or 480-629-9031 if calling internationally. A re-play will be available until March 18, 2009, which can be accessed by dialing 800-406-7325 if calling within the United States or 303-590-3030 if calling internationally. Please use passcode 4026658 to access the replay.

The call will also be accompanied by a live webcast over the Internet and is accessible at the Company's corporate website at MANITEX INTERNATIONAL.

Form 10-K filing

Manitex International plans to file its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008 prior to the deadline for submission of March 31, 2009.