Mizuno Corp. reported a significant improvement in earnings in the nine months ended December 31 with the help of lower operating expenses and improved margins.
Sales dipped 1.6 percent to ￥136.4 billion from ￥134.3 billion. The Japanese sporting goods giant said sales decreased slightly in Japan due to the shrink of baseball and golf market and profit-driven business strategy. Competitive sports business and Sports facility service business showed continuous growth. In Americas, sales decreased because of the strategy putting importance on profitability.
Operating profits reached ￥5.1 billion against an operating loss of ￥300 million.
Gross margins improved to 40.9 percent from 38.0 percent due to the reduction of purchase cost and the obsolete stock suppression in Americas. SG&A expenses were reduced 4.3 percent to ￥52.1 billion from ￥49.8 billion. As a percent of sales, SG&A was reduced to 37.1 percent from 38.2 percent.
Net income reached￥3.3 billion versus ￥100 million a year ago. The contribution of securities to retirement benefit trust (￥2.2 billion) was recorded the latest nine months.
By region in the nine months, sales in Japan were down slightly to ￥91.0 million from ￥91.6 million.
Sales in the Americas fell 9.8 percent to ￥16.6 billion from ￥18.4 billion. Sales in the EMEA region were ￥10.8 billion against ￥11.2 million. In the Asia/Oceania region, sales improved to ￥15.8 billion from ￥15.3 billion.
Photo courtesy Mizuno
