OSAKA, Japan (BRAIN) — Shimano is reporting that its first quarter sales were 100,557 million yen ($650 million), down 20.2% from the same quarter last year. In the company’s bicycle division, sales were down 22.6% to 76,090 million yen. Company-wide, ordinary income was up 0.9% from the first quarter of last year.
Shimano said demand for its bike and fishing products was weak in the quarter due to the global economy, although the company noted that the U.S. economy remained “firm.” The global bike market, the company said was marked by high inventories and “supply and demand adjustments.” It said interest in the bikes remained strong in North America but retail sales of complete bikes softened and market inventories remained high. It said bike sales in China were favorable and inventories there were appropriate.
Shimano did not adjust its forecast for revenues in the first half or full-year, but is calling for a 7.2% increase in non-operating income over the previous forecast due to the depreciation of of Asian currencies relative to the U.S. dollar. The full-year net sales forecast of 420,000 million yen remains 11.4% below 2023’s sales result.
Shimano said it spent 136 million yen (about $878,000) on its crank recall in the first quarter, down from the 449 million yen (about $2.9 million) it spent on the problem in the first quarter last year.
