Toro Company yesterday (19 February) reported a record first quarter of trading – and predicted that the winter storms would help boost profits for the coming year.  As a result, the company increased its forecast for all of 2015.

The snowstorms, “helped to spur demand, drive retail sales, control inventories and position us well for end-of-the-year business,” says Toro CEO Michael Hoffman.

Toro shares rose 9 cents to close at $68.81 a share Thursday.

Turnover rose 6 percent to $474 million amid strong professional snow equipment sales in the First Quarter that ended 30 January.

Hoffman said that he was happy with results, which benefited from last year’s purchase of Boss, a maker of professional snowplough and de-icer equipment. “We are encouraged by that business and the sales it contributed to the quarter of around $29 million of new revenue.”

Toro is seeing fresh orders, new products in the pipeline and high optimism for an improved golf season for 2015. The company expects revenue to grow 8 to 10 percent.

However, Hoffman added that Toro wrestles with the impact of a strong U.S. dollar that made exports to Europe and other places more expensive. “Some foreign currencies have weakened significantly since December. We didn’t plan on that level of head wind,” he said.

Separately, Toro dealt with parts delays caused by labour issues affecting US ports. The end result was a quarter “challenged by lower shipments of residential ‘zero turn’ riding mowers due to supply inefficiencies” Hoffman said.

Homeowner product sales fell 8.7 percent to $134 million during the quarter. In contrast, professional sales, including Boss and global golf-related sales, jumped 15 percent to $340 million.