Annual sales of JPY174.4bn ($1.53bn) in the year to March 31 was up 21% compared with last year, Tadano reported in May.
Its forecast for the 2009-10 fiscal year is JPY180bn, up only 3.2%, barely more than inflation. And the figures are more pessimistic for profits. Operating income was up 41% to JPY18bn ($160m), and net income was up 51% to JPY11.6bn ($102m). But it has forecast operating income down 8%, and net income down 13%, from these levels.
The company had a mixed forecast for 2009. On the negative side, it predicts that the price of crude oil and primary materials may continue to increase and the US economy will enter a recession, and European economies will slow down. It predicts truck loader sales will fall. In terms of supply, it said it faces ‘formidable challenges’, including the rising cost of primary materials, procurement problems, expanding production capacity and leveling out the concentration of sales toward year-end over the rest of the year.
On the positive side, it actually predicts continuing demand for its construction cranes. In Japan, “domestic sales of construction cranes are expected to increase due to deep-seated replacement demand,” it said, and overseas sales will “fare well” in Europe, the Middle East and North America.
Tadano also announced its goals for the end of its upcoming Mid-Term Management Plan, on 31 March 2011. The company is aiming for JPY200bn in sales, JPY20bn in ordinary income and 58% ratio of overseas to domestic sales by then.
Although there was strong demand in Japan and overseas, supply problems ate into the company’s profits toward the end of the financial year, the company reported. “The Japanese economy in fiscal year 2008 remained robust backed by the growth of exports and capital investment until rising costs for primary materials began impacting corporate revenues and forced a decline in production, bringing growth to a standstill toward the end of the fiscal year.”
In the past year, with the opening of its new JPY 2.7bn (USD 24m) factory in Tadotsu, Kagawa Prefecture, it split up crane production by plant: construction cranes in Shido, aerial work platforms in Takamatsu, and truck loader cranes in Tadotsu.
Over the year, Japan sales grew 10.7% to JPY92.8bn ($815m), and overseas sales grew 34% to JPY 81.5bn, thanks to growth in North America and Europe. The ratio of overseas sales to total sales reached an all-time high of 47%. Falling truck loader sales dragged down sales of construction cranes, which grew 25% in Japan to JPY42.5bn and 42% to JPY63bn overseas.