August 13, 2007 – Yamaha’s motorcycle sales on the rise
Increased North American sales of side-by-sides and motorcycles spurred Yamaha Motor Corp. to record highs in revenue and profit in its first half.
The company reported a 14.4 percent increase in revenue and 12.1 percent rise in net income to $416 million for its first half, which ended June 30.
Yamaha’s North American motorcycle sales increased 3.5 percent to 117,000. Yamaha’s first-half bike sales in North American have remained fairly consistent over the past three years after jumping 42.5 percent in 2005.
New cycle sales represent about 60 percent of Yamaha’s total sales, according to the company’s first-half report.
Besides the U.S. gain, Yamaha said its new cycle sales rose in Asia by 18 percent but decreased in Europe by 5 percent.
ATV sales were off in the U.S., although side-by-side sales were up significantly. Overall, Yamaha’s power product division sales, which includes quads, were up 17 percent in North America and 19.1 percent worldwide. Yamaha did not provide the volume of quads it sold in North America.
Yamaha said its marine product sales were up 11.4 percent, led by “favorable sales” of PWC in the U.S.
Yamaha also reported it paid $15.9 million more for raw materials so far this year compared to the year-ago period. The company also spent more than $10 million more on research and development this first half compared to last year at this point.
Looking ahead, the company said it expects to exceed 5 million worldwide motorcycle unit sales this year for the first time.
Yamaha also expects its overall year-end sales to increase 7.5 percent over last year and its net income to rise nearly 3 percent more than last year. psb