Japan's equipment big 3 see -20% drop this year

Japan's three largest construction equipment manufacturers saw sales fall just over -15% in the fiscal year that ended on 31 March. Total construction equipment sales for Komatsu, Hitachi Construction Machinery and Kobelco came to JPY 2.82 trillion (US$ 29.4 billion), compared to JPY 3.33 trillion (US$ 34.6 billion) the previous year.

Operating profits for the three group's construction equipment businesses fell a massive -46.4% over the course of the year to JPY 241 billion (US$ 2.51 billion), compared to JPY 449 billion (US$ 4.68 billion) the previous year. This meant the three companies average operating margin fell from 13.5% to 8.5%.

2010 forecast

All three companies expect sales and profits to fall further this fiscal year. Total revenues are expected to drop some -21.6% to JPY 2.43 trillion (US$ 25.3 billion). Operating profit is expected to fall another -50% on this year's level, to take the three companies' operating margin down to just 4.4% on average.