17.10.2023

Tadano’s first half

Tadano has reported its results for the six months to the end of June, the company is currently in the process of switching from a classic April to March fiscal year to a calendar year reporting period.

Total revenues for the six months were ¥133 billion ($890 million) up 19.5 percent on the same period last year. At the same time pre-tax profits improved almost 20 percent to ¥7.9 billion ($52.6 million), but this masks a ¥2.9 billion extraordinary profit last year, if you look at what Tadano refers to as Ordinary Profit - essentially trading profit - that more than doubled to ¥7.8 billion ($52.2 billion) thanks to higher prices and increased sales volumes.

The breakdown by product type was as follows:
Mobile cranes ¥93.8 billion ($626 million) +29%
Loader cranes ¥9.1 billion ($60.5 million) +17%
Aerial work platforms ¥7.3 billion ($48.6 million) – 8.6%
Other revenues ¥23.1 billion ($154.6 million) +0.6%
Total ¥133.3 billion ($890 million) + 19.5%

Mobile crane sales were split between:
Japan ¥24.75 billion ($165 million) +11.3%
Export ¥69 billion ($460.9 million) +29%

Mobile crane exports by region
Europe ¥16.7 billion ($111.4 million) down 1.1%
North America ¥41.3 billion ($276 million) +56%
Central/South America ¥2.14 billion ($14.3 million) - 8%
Asia ¥6.75 billion ($45.1 million) – 21%
Middle East ¥10 billion ($66.75 million) x 2.6 fold
Oceania ¥6.5 billion ($43.4 million) +2.4%
Other markets ¥750 million ($5 million) - 35%
Total ¥84.2 billion ($562.1 million) + 28%

As to the domestic/export split for other product sectors:

Loader cranes
Japan – ¥8.05 billion ($54 million)+18.5%
Export - ¥1.02 billion ($6.8 million) +7.2%
Total - ¥9.07 billion ($60.5 million)+17.1%

Aerial work platforms
Japan - ¥7.23 billion ($48.3 million) -7.3%
Export - ¥44 million ($294,000) - 72.7%
Total - ¥7.3 billion ($48.6 million) - 8.6%

Other revenues
Used crane sales - ¥4.2 billion ($28 million) -29%
Parts and service - ¥18.96 billion (126.6 million) +10.9%
Total - ¥23.15 billion ($154.6 million) +0.6%

Full year forecasts
The company is now forecasting revenues of ¥217 billion ($1.84 billion) for the full year, up almost two percent on 2022, with Europe bouncing back, while North America and the Middle East maintain their first half growth. It predicts Ordinary profits of ¥13 billion ($86.8 million), almost five percent higher than that achieved in 2022.

Vertikal Comment

This is something of a mixed bag from Tadano, although it has been struggling a little, mostly thanks to the indigestion caused by un-Tadano integration speed of the Demag acquisition. Business is improving driven mostly by North America and the domestic Japanese market. The ongoing restructuring in Europe has naturally had an impact on engineering and production in the region, but in many respects the greater impact on the company’s current fortunes in the region has come from the restructuring of the European and Middle Eastern distribution and sales teams, which has seen the loss of some good, highly experienced people. Another more difficult factor to judge has been the impact of the product line rationalisation programme.

With overall demand remaining solid, the company is clearly anticipating that the situation in Europe will improve in the second half. It is still only four years into the acquisition while Tadano has traditionally taken 15 to 20 years to integrate its manufacturing acquisitions.
The disruption has in some areas been such that rumours began circulating in the summer about potential bids from Chinese manufacturers. These have, it seems, gone away for now, but the company may well face a few more unsettled years as it moves towards what it calls ‘One Tadano’, in order to truly benefit from the Demag acquisition.

CEO presentation

Earlier this month Tadano chief executive Toshiaki Ujiie presented the results, providing information on market growth and how the company has handled, the changing markets of Russia, China and India, as well as updating on the European developments. You can watch the presentation with simultaneous translation below.