Piaggio Group’s financial results for the first three months of 2013 reveal an 11.6 per cent drop in revenue to £255.4m. Operating profit was down by 24.6 per cent to £8.3m and net profit plummeted by 65.6 per cent to just £926,000.
The company understandably said that the fact that it stayed in profit at all was significant given the exceptional challenging circumstances it faced during the period — the worst decline in European powered two-wheeler sales since 2007, flat demand in the Asia-Pacific region and slowing growth in India.
In detail, the Group shipped a worldwide total of 138,400 PTWs and light commercial vehicles to dealers, down by 2.8 per cent. But it says decline was limited largely as a result of healthy Vespa scooter sales in India amounting to 13,100 units and strong 25.2 per cent growth in North America. It also reported some improvement in Thailand, Taiwan and the Philippines. Group share of the Vietnamese scooter market also rose to 18.5 per cent from 17.8 per cent a year earlier.
Another ray of sunshine was provided by the Moto Guzzi motorcycle brand with a 27.9 per cent increase in sales volume and 35.9 per cent in revenue, despite slackening European demand.