Showing posts with label Jazz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jazz. Show all posts
Monday, August 24, 2015
Honda sees profits tumble by a third amongst a barrage of recalls in the last year.
Tepid sales and a barrage of recall costs hammered profits at Honda Motor Co. in the latest quarter, forcing the carmaker to miss its main targets for full-year earnings and unit sales.
Operating profit tumbled 32 percent to 111.94 billion yen ($935.7 million) in the January-March fiscal fourth quarter, from 165.29 billion yen ($1.38 billion) a year earlier.
Net income also fell, dropping 43 percent to 97.84 billion yen ($817.9 million), from 170.51 billion yen ($1.43 billion) the year before. Revenue advanced 8.3 percent to 3.35 trillion yen ($28.00 billion) in the quarter, while global sales inched ahead just 0.8 percent to 1.204 million vehicles, driven by North America and mainland Asia.
Earnings were hit by the lackluster sales volume and hefty costs for recalls as well as the ramp up of the HR-V crossover at Honda’s new factory in Mexico, Executive Vice President Tetsuo Iwamura said today while announcing the results at Honda’s global headquarters.
Iwamura did not break out the recall amount. But the costs, which cover Honda’s global call back of faulty airbags, were included as quality-related costs in 49.6 billion yen ($414.6 million) of selling, general and administrative expenses.
The potentially explosive airbags have been linked to five deaths in the U.S. and one in Malaysia. Worldwide, Honda has recalled some 14.4 million vehicles equipped with suspect airbag inflators made by Japanese supplier Takata Corp., more than any other automaker.
About 9.87 million of those recalls came in the United States.
Global sales were also dented last year when Honda delayed the launches of several new vehicles to double check quality, after its redesigned Fit Hybrid small car was recalled five times in one year to fix various drivetrain and computer control glitches.
In the Japanese home market, Honda’s sales plunged 22 percent to 221,000 vehicles in the quarter, as consumers stayed home after an increase in the nationwide sales tax. Sales in Europe slid 5.9 percent to 48,000 units. Volume in Asia rose 15 percent to 464,000 vehicles. That eclipsed the 397,000 sold in North America, which notched a 2.8 percent sales gain over the previous year.
North America, long Honda’s cash cow, slid to be being Honda’s third biggest profit engine in the fourth quarter, behind Asia and Japan. Regional operating income declined 72 percent to 11.6 billion yen ($97.0 million), hurt mainly by the Takata airbag recall costs.
Asia’s regional operating profit, meanwhile, surged 31 percent to 70.7 billion yen ($591.0 million) in the quarter.
Honda's European operations swung to an operating loss of 5.7 billion yen ($47.6 million) in the quarter, from an operating profit of 14.9 billion yen ($124.6 million) a year earlier. Honda said Europe was hit by falling sales and unfavorable foreign exchange rates, as well as a weakening model mix toward lower-margin vehicles.
Full-year retreat
For the full fiscal year ended March 31, overall operating profit slid 13 percent to 651.68 billion yen ($5.45 billion), from 750.28 billion yen ($6.27 billion) a year earlier.
Honda had predicted operating profit of 720.0 billion yen ($6.02 billion) as recently as January.
Annual net income declined 8.9 percent to 522.76 billion yen ($4.37 billion). That result was also lower than Honda’s earlier forecast for net income of 545.0 billion yen ($4.56 billion), an outlook that was twice revised downward last year as Honda’s sales sputtered and recall costs mounted.
Meanwhile, worldwide revenue rose 6.8 percent to 12.65 trillion yen ($105.74 billion), on a 0.9 percent increase in global sales to 4.364 million vehicles. Honda twice cut its sales initial forecast of 4.83 million vehicles. It lowered it to 4.62 million in October and bumped it down to 4.45 million in January. Its final full-year tally missed that target as well.
For the fiscal year, operating profit in North America fell 31 percent to 200.2 billion yen ($1.67 billion), making it the No. 2 profit center behind Asia. Regional operating profit in Asia, which includes China, India and Thailand, rose 28 percent to 277.9 billion yen ($2.32 billion). Europe's operating loss widened to 18.8 billion yen ($157.2 million), from 17.1 billion yen ($142.9 million) the year before.
Of the three big Japanese carmakers reporting so far this earnings season, Honda was alone in not achieving record profits. Mazda Motor Corp. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., which reported last week, each notched record net and operating profits, on rising sales and foreign exchange gains.
But Mazda and Mitsubishi both expect profits to retreat in the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2016. In contrast, Honda predicts an increase sales and profits, but just barely.
Looking ahead, the carmaker expects sales to increase 6.7 percent to 4.655 million vehicles worldwide in the year to March 31, 2016. That is up from the 4.364 million it sold last fiscal year.
While delivering its earnings results, Honda announced it is switching to international financial reporting standards, or IFRS, from U.S. GAAP accounting standards.
Based on GAAP, Honda forecasts operating income to increase 1.3 percent to 660.0 billion yen ($5.52 billion) in the current fiscal year. Under IFRS, net is expected to advance 5.1 percent to 685.0 billion yen ($5.73 billion). Net income is expected to increase just 0.4 percent to 525.0 billion yen ($4.39 billion) under GAAP, the same level it would achieve when calculated according to IFRS.
Hans Greimel
Honda is back at Goodwood with it's best ever series of events and interactive experiences.
- Honda is back with an interactive experience
- Chance for exciting passenger lap in the new Civic Type R
- Festival theme of flat out and fearless racing sits perfectly with Honda racing heritage
Honda is back for the 2015 Goodwood Festival of Speed with a host of exciting flat out and fearless two and four wheel experiences. Coupled with one of the most innovative and engaging stand designs seen in recent years, the chance to spot a celebrity or two and the opportunity to get behind the wheel of the highly anticipated new Civic Type R and Honda has a sure-fire recipe for success.
Philip Crossman, Managing Director at Honda UK, commented: “Honda as a brand has a strong racing heritage and Goodwood is the perfect foil for that.
It’s not just road cars and bikes you’ll see racing up the famous hill, we’ve got the car that won our first ever F1 grand prix, we’ve got the most successful car in F1 history and we’ve got one of the most successful GP bikes ever. It’s going to be fantastic!”
As well as the new Jazz, the new HR-V, the new Civic Sport, the new CR-V, the new Civic Type R AND the new NSX all on display, the Honda stand, as in recent years, is once more all about giving visitors an interactive experience and the chance to live and breathe the Honda products – as passenger, rider or driver.
Four Wheel Experiences
Thursday’s Moving Motor Show will give visitors the chance to experience a thrilling passenger lap in the new Civic Type R, as well as get behind the wheel of the new Civic Sport and the new CR-V. Based on a first-come first-serve basis, these drives will be limited in number and carried out under strict supervision.
Embodying the flat out and fearless theme throughout this year’s four day Goodwood Festival of Speed, Honda will be running the new Civic Type R in the first glance section of the Hill Climb. Piloted by experienced racing drivers, the highly anticipated 310PS front wheel drive goes on sale within a matter of days after the festival and has already set a record for the fastest time around the Nurburgring.
With 2015 marking 50 years since Honda first won a Grand Prix, the historic Honda Formula One racing car, the RA272 which took Richie Ginther to victory at the Mexico Grand Prix in 1965 will also be racing up the hill, as will the McLaren-Honda MP4/4 which raced in the 1988 Formula One Season, winning all but one race and claiming all but one pole position.
Honda Two Wheel Experiences
30 years on from Freddie Spencer’s legendary, double championship-winning season, in which he was crowned both 250 and 500cc Grand Prix winner, Honda will mark the anniversary by uniting Freddie with some of today’s motorcycling record-breakers at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Freddie Spencer, the only racer to win both GP classes in the same year, will take to the hill on his 1985 NSR 500 – widely regarded as the most successful GP bike in its class. Alongside Freddie, for the first time at Goodwood since 2006, will be two-time MotoGP champion, Casey Stoner, on an RC213V MotoGP bike.
Continuing Honda’s record-breaking theme, Jenny Tinmouth will make her Goodwood debut on her British Superbike-specification CBR1000RR Fireblade. Jenny Tinmouth, who will be joined at the Festival by her teammates, Jason O’Halloran and Dan Linfoot, is the only female British Superbike racer and current Isle of Man TT female lap record holder.
Honda’s Isle of Man heritage will be marked at Goodwood, with 21-times winner, John McGuinness, wowing the crowds on his CBR1000RR TT Legends bike.
Away from the hill-climb action, Honda will be providing a hands-on motorcycling experience for young and old, with children aged from 5 to 11 able to get on a bike for the first time with Honda My First Licence. The more adventurous, of all riding abilities, can get a taste of off-road riding, experiencing the thrills and, possibly, spills of motocross, under the expert guidance of the Dave Thorpe Honda Off-Road Experience team.
Philip Crossman concluded: “There’s something for everyone at Goodwood this year from the Honda brand, regardless of age or the number of wheels preferred; it is the perfect opportunity to bring our products to the Great British public and we can’t wait!”
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