Japanese crane manufacturers Tadano and Kato have both shown a return to profit in the year to 31 March 2001.
Tadano showed a net profit of ¥447m ($3.9m) for the year, after net losses of ¥2.57bn ($22m) and ¥1.2bn ($10.4m) in the previous two years.
Sales were down marginally from ¥94.43bn ($821m) to ¥93.89bn ($816m) for the year.
Operating profit for the year was ¥1.41bn ($12.3m), compared with an operating loss in fiscal 2000 of ¥876m ($7.6m).
Kato’s sales dipped to ¥32.61bn ($283m) from the previous year’s ¥35.22 ($306m). But operating profit was ¥1.3bn ($11.3m) and net profit was ¥102m. In fiscal 2000 Kato reported a loss of ¥2bn ($17.4m) at the operating level and a net loss of ¥2.62bn ($22.8m).
Kato has been hit the harder by the downturn of the Japanese market. In fiscal 1997 it had sales of ¥72bn. That year Tadano’s sales were ¥108bn. Tadano has been aided by the performance of its German subsidiary, Tadano Faun.
