Full-year financial results to 31 March 2014 from the motorcycle division of Kawasaki Heavy Industries show a firm recovery from recent woes.
Divisional revenue increased by 27.9 per cent to £1.87bn. Associated operating profit rocketed upwards by 571.7 per cent to £93m. This bottom-line result was 23.8 per cent higher than the company’s forecast.Â
Global sales volume — rolling motorcycles, quadbike and side-by-side ATVs, and Jet Ski personal watercraft together — rose by 8.5 per cent to 590,000 units. Kawasaki predicts sales of 663,000 units in the subsequent 12-month period.
Most of this improvement was attributable to emerging markets, mainly Indonesia and Thailand. European sales were actually down by 3.6 per cent to 53,000 units. But related revenue in Europe grew by 18.9 per cent to £265m, indicating a more lucrative model mix. Performance in the US market demonstrated a similar phenomenon.
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