Half-yearly financial results to 30 September for the motorcycle division of Kawasaki Heavy Industries reveal a 1.4 per cent drop in sales revenue to £790m but a stonking 60 per cent decline in related operating profit to a mere £6m.
The company blamed this retreat on falling bike sales in Latin America and Thailand, despite recovery in Europe and the huge Indonesian market. European wholesale shipments rose by 10.5 per cent to 21,000 units. Total global volume was static at 267,000 units.
KHI is maintaining its full-year divisional revenue forecast of £1.84bn, which is a marginal 0.7 per cent lower than the previous 12 months, based on shifting a targeted 626,000 units — including 56,000 in Europe. But the company has revised predicted operating profit downwards by 18.7 per cent to £75m.
Typically, Kawasaki makes about one third of its annual revenue from bikes and the bulk of associated profit in the final January-March quarter, when it ships new-season products to distributors and dealers worldwide.