Slowdown hits Komatsu figures

Komatsu’s sales for the first nine months of the fiscal year were down -6.8% to JPY 1350 billion (US$ 16.9 billion), with its construction and mining equipment division seeing a -4.8% drop to JPY 1207 billion (US$ 15.1 billion). Net profits for the nine months from April to December were JPY 91.1 billion (US$ 1.14 billion), a -29.6% decline on the same period last year.

“With respect to construction equipment, while demand increased in North American and Japan from the corresponding period a year ago, Chinese demand for hydraulic excavators dropped to about half. As a result, global demand turned down in the nine-month period under review,” said a company statement.

Komatsu’s figures also showed a -5.2% drop in the European and CIS markets over the same period, while Asia, excluding China and Japan, was down -10.9% and the Middle East and African markets dropped -4.9%. The improvement in Japan was only margin al at +0.7%, but Komatsu’s sales in the Americas were up +17.4%. At JPY 378 billion (US$ 4.73 billion), this region overtook the ‘rest of Asia’ as Komatsu’s single biggest market.

Revised outlook

Komatsu has also trimmed its projections for the full year, with revenues now expected to come in at JPY 1920 billion (US$ 24.1 billion), compared to the previous forecast of JPY 1970 billion (US$ 24.7 billion). In 2012 the company’s sales totalled JPY 1982 billion (US$ 24.8 billion).

Net profits for the fiscal year ending in March this year are now expected to come in at JPY 138 billion (US$ 1.75 billion), compared to JPY 167 billion (US$ 2.12 billion) a year ago, a -17% decline.

Komatsu cited a downturn in its business in Indonesia, linked to the falling price of thermal coal, as the main reason for the revision to its forecasts.