20.06.2006

JCB doubles its profits on sales up 23%

JCB has announced record sales and profits for its fiscal year 2005, the company produced 45,000 units, up 21 percent on 2004, while sales jumped by 23 percent to £1.42 billion. ($2.6 billion).

The company says that during the year it moved up from fifth place among the worlds construction equipment manufacturers to fourth, as its market share increased by a full percentage point to 9.6 percent.

JCB is still a private company and as such does not release detailed financials, but it says that its profits doubled, from £55 ($101) million in 2004 to £110 ($203) million in 2005.

Employment at the British based manufacturer rose to 6,300, an increase of 600, 400 of which were in the UK. JCB now has 17 production plants: 10 in the UK, three in India and others in the USA, Brazil, China and Germany.

2005 was the first full year for the JCB diesel engine, manufactured in Foston, Derbyshire The company says that more than 50 percent of its products are now powered by the JCB444 engine.

Another contributor to the increased revenues was the purchase of Vibromax in Germany, which took the company into the compaction equipment market for the first time.

The JCB announcement stated that it believes that it is now the clear market leader in the worldwide backhoe loader market, but made no mention of the telehandler market, where its top two position is under attack from JLG.

John Patterson, managing director and CEO,, said: “The record year of 2005 was built on a foundation of always striving to increase our sales and achieving new targets will mean growing this company significantly over the next five years.

“In 2001 we manufactured just 120 different products. We have now more than doubled the models offered to 257. We therefore have the range of machines to push JCB to new heights and to build on the success we enjoyed in 2005.”

JCB chairman, Sir Anthony Bamford, s, aid: “Last year was, without doubt, the most successful in JCB’s history, when we set new records for profitability, production and turnover.”