Asics Corp. swung to a net loss in the fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30 due in part to sales declines in the Americas region and weaker earnings across regions outside Asia.
The Japanese footwear giant posted a net loss of ¥68.0 million ($0.9 mm), or ¥0.0 yen per share, versus a net profit of ¥2.07 billion ($24 mm) in Q2 last year.
Operating income was down 40.6 percent to ¥2.61 billion ($34 mm) from ¥4.39 billion ($51 mm) in the year-ago period. Overall global revenues rose 2.8 percent to ¥58.57 billion ($753 million) in the fiscal second quarter from ¥56.99 billion ($664 million) a year ago.
Revenues in the domestic Japan business was up 3.3 percent to ¥23.06 billion ($297 mm) versus ¥22.31 billion ($260 mm) in the year-ago quarter. Operating income in the region jumped 131 percent to ¥1.26 billion ($16 mm) in the period.
The Americas posted a 12.1 percent sales decrease in yen terms to ¥14.86 billion ($191 mm) in fiscal Q2 from ¥16.90 billion ($197 mm) in the year-ago period. In U.S. dollar terms, revenues were down 3.0 percent for the period. Operating profits in the region fell 80.7 percent to ¥238 million ($3.1 mm) versus ¥1.23 billion ($14 mm) in fiscal Q2 last year. In U.S. dollar terms, operating income fell 78.7 percent for the quarter.
In Europe, fiscal second quarter revenues increased 9.4 percent to ¥13.34 billion ($172 mm) but operating income fell 66.2 percent to ¥510 million ($6.6 mm).
Oceania revenues increased 5.8 percent to ¥2.41 billion ($31 mm) in Q2 and regional operating income declined 8.0 percent to ¥577 million ($7.4 mm).
East Asia revenues increased 10.9 percent to ¥3.65 billion ($47 mm) for the period and operating profit grew 22.8 percent to ¥426 million ($5.5 mm).
In a statement concerning the six-month fiscal year-to-date period, Asics officials “the pace of recovery weakened in the global economy due to the financial problem in Europe and high unemployment rates in North America and other factors.” In the Japanese economy, where conditions were said to have “remained difficult due to the effect of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake,” a pickup in production and other factors helped to bring about a “moderately paced recovery,” but there are concerns for the declining corporate earnings, the deteriorating employment situation and other factors.
Looking ahead, Asics sees revenues reaching ¥250 billion in the year ended March 31, 2012, representing a gain of 6.2 percent versus the prior fiscal year. Operating earnings are expected to decline 5.0 percent to ¥20.5 billion while net income is forecast to dip 0.4 percent to ¥11.0 billion. Compared to the forecast provided when releasing fiscal first quarter results in August, the updated forecast was reduced from ¥254 billion, the operating income forecast was the reduced from ¥22.5 billion, and net income was adjusted downward from ¥13.5 billion.
