04.02.2021

Tadano moves into the red

Japanese crane and aerial lift manufacturer Tadano has reported lower sales and a steeper loss for the first nine months of the year than originally forecast.

Total revenues for the nine months to the end of December were down 11 percent on the year at ¥132.5 billion ($1.26 billion), with a pre-tax loss of ¥7.29 billion ($69.3 million), compared to a profit last year of ¥9.4 billion ($89.8 million). Exceptional items totalled ¥5 billion ($47.1 million) compared to a one off gain last year of ¥679 million ($6.5 million).
The Demag business had a year to date operating loss of ¥4.6 billion ($43.3 million), while Tadano’s legacy business posted an operating profit of ¥2.7 billion ($25.8 million).

Breaking down revenues by type:

Mobile crane sales made up ¥77.9 billion ($740.4 million) - almost 60 percent of the total - a fall of 17.7 percent on last year. Sales in Japan were just over 20 percent lower at ¥24.2 billion ($229.6 million), while mobile crane exports slipped 16.5 percent to ¥53.8 billion ($510.8 million).
Loader cranes sales were 14.9 percent lower at ¥14.1 billion ($133.8 million).
Aerial work platforms were increased almost one percent to ¥12.2 billion ($115.9 million).
Other revenues - such as spare parts, service and used equipment - were almost 11 percent higher at ¥28.3 billion ($269.2 million).

Export sales all products by region:

European sales were ¥20.8 billion ($197.3 million), up 31 percent thanks to the addition of the Demag business.
North American revenues totalled ¥27.5 billion ($261.2 million), a drop of 20.9 percent on the same period last year.
South American sales were almost 23 percent lower at ¥2.4 billion ($22.9 million).
Asian deliveries declined 17.2 percent lower at ¥8.4 billion ($79.5 million).
Middle East sales were ¥4.8 billion ($45.4 million) down 10.4 on the previous year.
Other regions - which includes Australia, Oceania and CIS states - totalled ¥6.9 billion ($65.3million), 20 percent below the first nine months of 2019/2020.

The company has also updated its full year forecast for the year ending March 31 2021, although there is no change to total revenues at ¥182 billion ($1.73 billion). It is now expected to post a total pre-tax loss of ¥10.9 billion ($103 million), which includes an additional ¥3 billion ($28.5 million) to cover penalties arising from the environmental reporting issue in the USA – see: Environmental penalty for Tadano.

Tadano has also published a demand fluctuation chart for the calendar year which is interesting and shows that Japan has most definitely picked up, while all but North America and Europe have picked up in the fourth quarter. However, these two regions represent 68 percent of all exports.
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Vertikal Comment

There are no real surprises here apart, perhaps for the environmental penalty write off. The company is in the midst of digesting the Demag acquisition, whether that has become easier in the pandemic or more difficult is hard to say. The merged European business ought to emerge from its insolvency reorganisation process by the end of March ready to start the new financial year.

The company has probably written off the current year and will meet its new forecast and then look to make 2021/22 something of a rebound year, with the hope that it will have largely digested the Demag acquisition by the start of 2022/23.

Tadano publishes a good deal of information in its quarterly reports which helps see how things are by product type and region, which is helpful. It will be interesting to see how the past nine months compare with Manitowoc and Liebherr.