In its full-year financial results to 31 March, 2016, the motorcycle division of Kawasaki Heavy Industries posted a 2% revenue increase to £2.134bn. Associated operating profit rose by 5.7% to £100.9m.
Revenue actually underperformed Kawasaki’s annual forecast while profit was better than predicted. The company attributed such good fortune to improving sales of more lucrative products in Europe and North America, despite declines in emerging countries — most notably Indonesia.
Volume in Europe was up by 12.3% to 64,000 units, the majority of which were bikes. In the USA and Canada, where ATVs have a much bigger presence, overall volume was static at 100,000 units. But within that, motorcycles grew by 4.1% to 51,000 units. Emerging markets dropped by 16.9% to 340,000 units. Japanese domestic sales were flat at 15,000 units.
For the current financial year to 31 March, 2017, Kawasaki anticipates total volume falling by 9.8% to 524,000 units as Indonesian woes get worse. In addition to this decrease, the recently strengthening yen is also likely to impact on both repatriated revenue and operating profit.Â
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