Yamaha cuts 1,000 jobs, closes seven factories

Victim of heavy losses in its 2009 financial year, Yamaha Motor has just announced the imminent loss of 1,000 jobs, including 800 in Japan and 200 abroad, as well as the closure of seven factories around the world, in an attempt to return to profit in 2010.

Victim of heavy losses in its 2009 financial year, Yamaha Motor has just announced the imminent loss of 1,000 jobs, including 800 in Japan and 200 abroad, as well as the closure of seven factories worldwide, in an attempt to return to profit. in 2010.

These job cuts within the second largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world (and first in France for sales of two-wheelers of 125 and over) are part of a plan to reduce its total workforce by 10% ( 17,000 employees), announced a spokesperson for the group.

Yamaha intends to close five factories located in the Shizuoka region at its 12 production sites in the Japanese archipelago. The factories concerned manufacture spare parts for motorcycles, nautical equipment and buggy. Yamaha is also preparing to close a motorcycle factory in Italy and a nautical equipment production site in Florida (United States).

Due to the strong yen, declining sales and significant restructuring charges, Yamaha reports a net deficit of 216.1 billion yen (1.6 billion euros) for its 2009 fiscal year ended December 31 and a figure sales of 1,153.6 billion yen (8.7 billion euros), down 28% compared to 2008. For the first time in 26 years, Yamaha therefore ended the year with a profit of negative exploitation of 62.6 billion yen, against a profit close to 50 billion in 2008.

"The Yamaha group has faced a sharp drop in demand in the leisure markets in Europe and the United States", where its sales fell by a third and a half respectively, explains the manufacturer with three tuning forks whose sales two-wheelers, which contribute two-thirds of its global turnover, fell victim to the recession in Western countries.

Motorcycles sold better in Indonesia, Vietnam and India, where Yamaha launched new models, but the strength of the yen ruined its profits there and global two-wheeler sales fell by a fifth in a year . The group’s second activity, sales of boats and outboard motors collapsed by more than a third, with sluggish US, European and Russian markets.

Faced with these difficult conditions, Yamaha explained that it had drastically reduced production for export, its marketing and administrative costs, and divided its investments by almost half. The group attributed the enormity of its net deficit to exceptional losses including "the payment of early retirement in Japan, Europe and the United States".

For 2010, Yamaha expects a still difficult market, weak demand in the United States and Europe likely to eclipse the expected increase in sales in Asia. But the group thinks it can finish in equilibrium thanks to "the structural measures launched in 2009": Yamaha forecasts a turnover of 1250 billion yen and an operating profit of 10 billion.

LE JOURNAL MOTO DU NET (with AFP)

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