Kobe Steel, parent of Kobelco Cranes, has published its third quarter results, showing a sharp rise in profits within the crane business.
Total crane sales for the nine months to the end December were ¥51.7 billion ($440.6 million), an increase of 29.8 percent on the same period last year. Operating profit for the nine months leapt 75 percent to ¥4.5 billion ($38.3 million) with the rising trend continuing during the third and into the fourth quarter.
The company said: “The strong sales are due to higher shipments of crawler cranes in Japan due to continued strong demand from higher public investments and other factors. In overseas markets, sales increased in Asia, where demand continued to be strong, and in other regions.”
Kobelco Cranes expects the trend to continue and confirmed its full year forecasts of revenues of ¥71.6 billion ($610 million) – almost 27 percent higher than the previous year, while operating profits will be in the region of ¥5 billion ($42.6 million), 75 percent up on 2013/14.