Harley-Davidson Reports Q2 2012 Results

Dennis Chung
by Dennis Chung

Harley-Davidson reported a net income of $247.3 million over the second quarter of 2012, a 29.7% increase from a profit of $190.6 million from the same quarter in 2011.

The Motor Company sold 85,714 motorcycles worldwide in the quarter ended June 30, 2012, a 2.7% year-on-year increase from 83,396 units in 2011. U.S. sales increased at an even higher pace with the 55,761 units sold in the quarter representing a 4.0% increase from last year’s second quarter total of 53,599 units.

Sales were down 9.1% in Europe as the struggling economy generated 14,639 unit sales compared to 16,106 units last year. Sales were also down in Japan with Harley-Davidson selling 2,898 units compared to 3,128 units in 2011. Meanwhile, sales increased 10.0% in the Asia-Pacific region and37.9 in Latin America.Motorcycle sales generated $1.22 billion in revenue, a 21.6% increase from $1.00 billion from the second quarter of 2012. Parts and accessories generated another $265.6 million (up 4.0% from $255.4 million) and general merchandise and apparel produced $75.1 million in revenue (up 3.1% from $72.9 million). Harley-Davidson Financial Services generated $160.6 million in revenue over the second quarter of 2012, a 3.0% decrease from $165.9 million.

“We’re pleased with the overall performance at retail during the first half, including continued growth in the second quarter,” says Keith Wandell, chairman, president and chief executive officer. “As expected, retail sales moderated in the second quarter due to an unusually warm early spring in the U.S. that pulled some sales forward into the first quarter.”

Harley-Davidson forecasts shipments of 245,000 to 250,000 motorcycles for 2012, representing a 5-7% increase from 2011’s final shipment totals. Third- and fourth-quarter shipments will be reduced by 9.3-17.4% however as Harley-Davidson adopts an “Enterprise Resource Planning” (ERP) system. The ERP initiatives involve outsourcing some initiatives (some IT services were recently outsourced to Indian company Infosys) while reconfiguring production at the company’s York facility.

“The launch of ERP at York has gone very well. We are on plan and everyone involved deserves tremendous credit,” says Wandell. “The implementation of the ERP system at York supports greater manufacturing flexibility, which we believe will allow us to be even more responsive to customers over the coming years.”

[Source: Harley-Davidson]

Dennis Chung
Dennis Chung

Dennis has been a part of the Motorcycle.com team since 2008, and through his tenure, has developed a firm grasp of industry trends, and a solid sense of what's to come. A bloodhound when it comes to tracking information on new motorcycles, if there's a new model on the horizon, you'll probably hear about it from him first.

More by Dennis Chung

Comments
Join the conversation
Next