OSAKA, Japan (BRAIN) — Shimano's bike-related sales were down 0.9 percent in the first quarter compared with the same period last year, while operating income in the segment was down 3.2 percent.
Recording sales that were almost equal to the first quarter of last year is nothing to crow about: The first quarter of 2016 was devastating for much of the bike industry, and Shimano's bike-related sales in Q1 last year were down 20 percent from 2015.
The company said the European and U.S. economies were on recovery trajectories, and noted that first-quarter bike sales in the U.S. were sluggish on the West Coast due to rain, but exceeded expectations on the East Coast. It said U.S. distributor inventories were at "an appropriate level" in the first quarter.
The company said its latest iteration of the Dura-Ace Di2 group and the STePS E8000 drive unit for e-MTBs were each well received and began shipping late in 2016. The E8000 unit is targeted for the European market.
The company's first-quarter sales in the bike segment totaled 64.7 billion yen ($583 million), down from 65.3 billion yen last year.
In other markets, Shimano said sales in Southeast Asia "continued to lack vigor just as the previous year, and those in "Brazil, the largest market in South America, showed no signs of recovery." And in Japan, "retail sales of both sports bicycles and community bicycles were sluggish, and distributor inventories were somewhat high."
Across all its divisions, Shimano sales decreased 2.7 percent from the same period last year to 79.9 billion yen. Operating income decreased 5.1 percent to 15.3 billion yen.
Shimano stuck to its previous forecasts for net sales for the first half and full year of 162 million yen and 330 million yen, respectively. However, the company revised downward its forecast for income for the year by about 7 percent due to the depreciation of the U.S. dollar.
