Shimano's overall sales through June were $1.4 billion (133.1 billion yen), up from $1.3 billion (123.6 billion yen) over the first six months last year.
And the company's bike business continues to dominate Shimano's good news: bicycle component sales were $1.1 billion (106.1 billion yen), an 8 percent increase over last year. Bike sales now account for 80 percent of Shimano's total sales. Fishing sales grew a more modest 6 percent, but it is getting increasingly expensive for Shimano to grow its fishing sales and net income fell.?
Europe is Shimano's largest bike market, and had it not experienced so much cold and wet weather over the first half of the year, the company's sales growth would have been stronger. The weather also was bad in Japan, harming sales in that market. But while the weather started off poor in the U.S., it warmed up in May and sales took off. Sales to the company's new markets also grew strongly, led by sales into China.
Shimano attributed its strong sales into Europe and the U.S. to new components like Deore and Altus mountain components and Claris road parts it introduced this year, and to the depreciation of the yen. Since 2012 the yen has fallen more than 30 percent in value.
At the beginning of the year Shimano forecast its first half of the year sales would be $1.3 billion (125.5 billion yen), which it clearly exceeded. So the company pushed its full-year forecast to $2.7 billion (260 billion yen) an increase of $102 million over its earlier prediction.
