Honda has announced that Group unit sales for the financial year ended March 31st 2015 saw the company sell 17.765m motorcycles and other powersports industry vehicles (ATVs etc).
That is +0.7 percent over 2013/2014, and within 50,000 units of forecast for the year. For the final quarter of their financial year, the first quarter of 2015, they sold 4.615m units (+0.115 percent over the first three months of 2014).
In overall corporate terms Honda's fortunes continue to respond to treatment, but there is still quite some way to improve before the impacts of the downturn are fully behind them.
Consolidated operating income for the fiscal fourth quarter (January 1, 2015 through March 31, 2015) amounted to 111.9 billion yen, a decrease of -32.3% compared to the same period last year. Honda say their performance in the past year has been impacted by increases in selling, general and administrative (SG&A) costs, including quality-related costs, and a decline in automobile unit sales in Japan.
These impacts have been greater than the benefits received from profit-increasing factors such as strong sales in Asia and favourable currency effects associated with depreciation of the Japanese yen.
For the fiscal year (April 1, 2014 through March 31, 2015) consolidated operating income amounted to 651.6 billion yen, a decrease of -13.1% compared to the previous fiscal year; with consolidated net income for the year -8.9 percent at 522.7 billion yen.
Honda is leaving its quarterly dividend for the fiscal fourth quarter unchanged at 22 yen per share - the same amount as for the same period last year. Total cash dividends to be paid for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2015 are planned to be 88 yen per share, an increase of 6 yen per share from the previous fiscal year.
