TOKYO (BRAIN) — Shimano is reporting that sales in bike-related products were down 24.8% in the first three quarters of its fiscal year, compared to the same period last year. The company's operating income in its bike business was down 48.8% over the same period.
The company reported that a "free inspection program" — an apparent reference to the global inspection and replacement program involving millions of Hollowtech cranksets — had already cost it 17 billion yen ($114 million) in the third quarter, which Shimano categorized as an extraordinary loss. It also included a 144 million yen ($961,000) non-operating expense for a voluntary recall. It did not give a specific forecast for what the program will cost in upcoming fiscal periods but did say the costs were included in its updated forecasts, which are slightly more optimistic than previous guidance (see Forecasts section below).
"Although the strong interest in bicycles cooled down, interest in bicycles continued to be high as a long-term trend," the company said. "On the other hand, market inventories generally remained high, despite ongoing supply and demand adjustments."
Shimano said inventory levels remained high in Europe and North America; it said there was strong interest in bicycles in Germany and the Benelux countries, especially, but that retail sales of complete bikes remained weak in North America.
It said that in Asian, Oceanian and Central and South American markets retail sales of completed bicycles "remained somewhat sluggish due to cooling consumer confidence on account of rising inflation and economic uncertainty, and market inventories were at a high level."
Sales in China were strong, however, especially in road bikes. It said Chinese market inventories were at an appropriate level.
Shimano reported better news in its fishing division, where net sales increased 3.4% from the same period of the previous year, although fishing operating income decreased 7.3%.
Company-wide, Shimano's net sales decreased 19.8% from the same period of the previous year to 375,264 million yen ($2.5 billion). Operating income decreased 43.0% to 72,086 million yen, ordinary income decreased 35.8% to 96,221 million yen, and net income decreased 47% to 60,169 million yen.
Forecasts
Shimano said that the spring’s unfavorable weather conditions did not dampen orders as much as expected and that a strong U.S. dollar was providing some non-operating revenue increases. So for the full year, Shimano is now forecasting company-wide revenues of 460 billion yen, down 27% from 2022’s full-year, but up 2.7% from the previous forecasts. And the full-year operating income forecast is now 77 billion yen — down 55% from last year, but 10% above previous guidance. The company specified that the forecasts include the extraordinary loss from the free inspection program.
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Shimano quarterly revenue in its bicycle division.
