TOKYO (BRAIN) — Shimano announced full-year 2023 sales in its bicycle division of 364,679 million yen ($2.42 billion) on Tuesday, a 29.5% decrease from the year before. Operating income in the division was down 55%, to 65,251 million yen.
“Although the booming popularity of bicycles cooled down, interest in bicycles continued to be high as a long-term trend. On the other hand, market inventories generally remained high, despite ongoing supply and demand adjustments,” the company said of the global market.
The company said sales in Germany and the Benelux countries were strong, and road bikes are selling well in China. In North America, it said “although interest in bicycles was firm, retail sales of completed bicycles remained weak partly due to a reaction from the cycling boom, and market inventories were at a consistently high level.”
Fourth-quarter sales in the bike division totaled 75,236 million yen, compared to 132,782 million yen in the fourth quarter for 2022, a 43% decline (see chart of quarterly bike division sale below).
Sales in Shimano’s other major division, fishing equipment, decreased 1.6% over the year. Company-wide, sales were down 24.6% to 474,362 million yen, down from 628,909 million yen in 2022.
Shimano recorded net income of 61,142 million yen, down 52.3% from 2022.
Looking forward, Shimano noted risks from the war in Ukraine and the Middle East, which could disrupt global supply chains. It also said the U.S. presidential election “may influence the economy.” It forecast company-wide fiscal 2024 sales of 420,000 million yen, an 11.5% decrease from 2023. It forecast a net income of 54,000 million yen, down 11.7% from 2023.
Shimano reported that its full-year loss from its 11-speed crank replacement program was 17,625 million yen, just 551,000 yen more than its estimate for the 2023 program cost it made in its third-quarter financial report.
