Kobelco Cranes sees sales rise

Japanese crawler crane manufacturer Kobelco Cranes saw a 7.1% rise in its revenues in the first nine months of the 2015 fiscal year. The results for the nine months to the end of December 2015 show revenues of JPY 55.4 billion (US$ 473 million), compared to JPY 51.7 billion (US$ 442 million) for the same period last year.

A company statement said, “Unit sales of crawler cranes were similar to the same period last year. Although domestic demand was firm, demand declined in Southeast Asia, which was largely affected by economic slowdown.

Despite rising sales, the business’s ordinary income fell some 38% to JPY 2.8 billion (US$ 23.9 million) compared to the same period last year. Kobelco said this was due to, “Higher expenses for quality maintenance and the improvement of products.”

Kobelco Cranes is forecast to achieve full fiscal year sales of JPY 75 billion (US$ 645 million), an increase of some 5.5% over last year. However, ordinary income is expected to be less than half the JPY 5.1 billion (US$ 44 million) achieved a year ago, with the company forecasting a figure of JPY 2.0 billion (US$ 17 million).

Extraordinary loss

In the same results announcement, parent company Kobe Steel booked a JPY 39.8 billion (US$ 340 million) extraordinary loss against bad debts and write-downs in its Chinese construction equipment business, which focuses on excavators. The charge against profits for the Kobelco Construction Machinery division relates to “doubtful accounts” where the company expects to see bad debts from customers, along with a write-down on the value of Kobe Steel’s investment in subsidiaries and affiliates in China.