12.05.2021

Profit pickup at Kobelco Construction

Kobelco Construction - which includes the Kobelco crane business - has reported lower full year sales, but an improvement in profitability.

Total revenues for the company were ¥333.1 billion ($3.1 billion) while pre-tax profit for the Construction equipment subsidiary jumped 70 percent to ¥12.7 billion ($117 million) thanks to cost reductions and emergency measures. Sadly details of the crane sales are no longer provided, but the commentary did say that crane sales were lower due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The company is forecasting a bounce back in sales to ¥360 billion ($3.3 billion) the same as in 2019/20. Included in that growth is a pickup in crawler crane sales, particularly in South Asia. However, at the same time it is forecasting an almost 45 percent fall in profits, due to tougher competition in China and a strong increase in development costs and other expenses.

Vertikal Comment

Not much to say here with such limited information. It does seem however that Kobelco crane sales may well be stagnating a little, possibly due to slower demand in particular markets where it is strong?