Yamaha’s half-yearly financial results to 30 June boast a big leap in profitability, partly thanks to booming large-capacity bike sales.
Sales revenue from its motorcycle business in this six-month period grew by 3.1 per cent to £2.78bn, delivering a huge 208.5 per cent increase in associated operating profit to £65m.
Global unit sales actually decreased slightly, driven down by declines in some lower-margin emerging markets, most notably Thailand and Vietnam. But higher-priced volume in developed countries rose sharply — up by 23 per cent in Europe and 17 per cent in Japan — due to the impact of the MT-09 and MT-07 models, as well as other new products.
Total group revenue was up by 7.6 per cent to £4.37bn, almost two-thirds of which came from bikes. Operating profit improved by 62.4 per cent to £284.1m. Net profit climbed by 57.6 per cent to £186.5m.Â