Yamaha Reports Q2 2012 Results

Yamaha has lowered its 2012 year-end sales forecast by 14.3% after reporting disappointing first half results. The Japanese manufacturer reported a profit of 14.5 billion yen (US$184.3 million), a 49.8% decrease from a profit of 29 billion yen reported in the first half of 2011.

According to the company’s financial report for the quarter ended June 30, 2012, Yamaha‘s net sales totaled 632.2 billion yen (US$8.04 billion), a 4.6% decrease from net sales of 663.1 billion yen reported in the same quarter of 2011.

Net sales from motorcycles decreased 10.3% to 414.7 billion yen (US$5.27 billion) from 462.3 billion yen. The declining sales were attributed to the European debt crisis, the strong Japanese yen and slowing growth in emerging markets such as Asia, Central and South America.

Yamaha sold 3.1 million motorcycles over the first half of 2012, a 10.5% decrease from the 3.5 million units sold in the same period of 2012. Sales were down in all regions except in North America which saw an increase of sales to 38,000 units from 31,000 units.

Despite positive reactions to the newly updated Yamaha T-Max scooter, European sales dropped 8.3%, mainly due to struggling economies in southern nations. Sales increased in Thailand and India, but those gains were offset by decreases in Indonesia, Brazil and other emerging markets where financing terms and conditions have tightened.

As a result of the decline in sales, Yamaha reduced its year-end forecast to 1,200 billion yen (US$15.3 billion) from its initial forecast of 1,400 billion yen (US$17.8 billion).

[Source: Yamaha]

By Dennis Chung