12.05.2017

14% slide for Tadano

Tadano has published its full year results for the 12 months to the end of March, showing a fall in revenues and steep decline in profits.

Total revenues for the period were ¥179.7 billion, ($1.6 billion) down 14 percent on the prior year, while net profit slumped almost 40 percent to ¥11.9 billion ($104.9 million).

Looking in detail at the revenue numbers, sales in Japan slipped 2.6 percent to ¥102.3 billion ($901.9 million) with mobile crane sales falling 11.9 percent to ¥45 billion ($397 million). Loader crane sales fell dropping just under three percent to ¥18.1 billion ($160.4 billion), while at the same time aerial work platform sales jumped 19 percent to ¥23.2 billion ($204.6 million).

Export sales, which are almost entirely made up of mobile cranes, dropped off more dramatically falling 28.6 percent to ¥64.6 billion ($569.8 million), making total sales of Tadano mobile cranes worth ¥109.6 billion ($996.8 million). Worldwide revenues from parts and services slipped three percent to ¥27.2 billion ($240 million).

The company is forecasting that revenues in its new fiscal year will be roughly same, possibly with slightly higher mobile crane sales offset by lower loader crane and aerial lift revenues.

Vertikal Comment

Given the current state of the crane market - especially given the Rough Terrain market in North America and Japan where a large part of its sales are generated - this is not too bad a performance from Tadano. It expects the situation to remain flat in the current year, although this seems to be slightly conservative given the potential for increased infrastructure spending in the USA and an improving economy in the Eurozone.

The company has stated that its medium term plan is to double its exports to the point where they represent around 80 percent of total sales. To do this it is going to require a total change of gear in terms of marketing and distribution. It would also require substantially greater production capacity for its All Terrain cranes. The products are excellent and the company has a very strong market position in some countries such as the USA, but is still a minor player in some and not even active in others.

It will be interesting to see how this year develops