Hitachi CM sees modest revenue rise

Hitachi Construction Machinery saw revenues rise +5.6% last year to JPY 817 billion (US$ 9.96 billion). Operating income for the fiscal year ending March 31 was up +32% to JPY 54.8 billion (US$ 668 million).

The company said sales increased in every region of the world last year apart from Europe and China. In Europe sales were down -3% to JPY 64.4 billion (US$ 786 million), but much more profound in terms of the company's results was the -34.1% slump in sales to JPY 134 billion 9US$ 1.65 billion), a fall of just under JPY 70 billion (US$ 850 million).

As with fellow Japanese manufacturer Komatsu, Hitachi said Chinese policies to reduce inflation had impacted on its business. "In China, due to the government's continued tight financial policy, resulting in delays in the commencement of new construction work, the demand for hydraulic excavators decreased considerably from the previous year, " it said in a statement.

Elsewhere in the world the company saw double-digit growth across the board. The sharpest increase was in the Americas, where sales were up +48.1% to JPY 92.3 billion (US$ 1.13 billion). Asia was also strong with domestic sales rising +22.2% to JPY 211 billion (US$ 2.57 billion), while the rest of Asia (excluding China and Japan) was up +19.9% to JPY 135 billion (US$ 1.65 billion). Sales to the CIS, Africa and the Middle East meanwhile were up + 10.1% to JPY 71.7 billion (US$ 875 million).

The company's forecast for the 2013 fiscal year is for a +7.7% rise in sales to JPY 880 billion (US$ 10.7 billion), with operating profits to rise some 40% to JPY 54.8 billion (US$ 668 million)