Sales up at Tadano for 5th year

Sales were up at Japanese crane manufacturer Tadano for the 2015 financial year ended 31 March 2016.

At JPY 209,426 million (US$ 1,731 million) sales were up 2.6 % on the JPY 204,059 million ($ 1,686 million) for the previous year, the full 12 months to 31 March 2015. The final figure for 2015 was higher than the Japanese crane manufacturer's forecast which was for a total JPY 206,000 million ($1,704 million) or a 1 % increase on the year before.

Operating income was up 5.8 % from $243 million to $257 million and net income at $169 million was up 35 % on the $125 million a year earlier. The performance for the year was the fifth consecutive year of revenue and profit growth, Tadano said, and the figures reached a record high for the third year running.

By product type sales of mobile cranes were up 3.7 % to JPY 141,534 million ($ 1,170 million), while sales of truck loader cranes were down 2.2 % to JPY 20,375 million ($ 168 million). Aerial work platform sales were up 11.1 % to JPY 19,432 million ($ 16 million). Sales of spare parts, used cranes and so on added another JPY 28,084 million, down 4.2 %.

Demand for new cranes grew in Europe and slightly in South East Asia, Tadano said, but declined in the Middle East and fell sharply in the Americas.

The full year to 31 March 2015 figure was up 12.3 % on the 12 months to 31 March 2014, showing a marked slowdown in crane sales in the last year or so. Tadano forecasts that worse is to come, expecting a decline in sales of 9.3 % to JPY 190,000 million for the next 12 months, to the end of March 2017. This forecast decline will be due to economic uncertainty in Europe, slower economic growth in the USA, cooling emerging markets, exchange rate and oil price trends, and geopolitical problems, the company said.