Harley-Davidson profits slump
But captures even bigger market share at homeAmid signs that economic activity in America is beginning to stabilise, Harley-Davidson has announced its first quarter profit for 2009 has tumbled 37 percent in a sluggish motorcycle market.
The result, which will inevitably lead to some more job cuts, including white-collar reductions, was still better than expected by market analysts and saw the company's shares spike sharply.
Harley earned $US117.3m ($A162.8m) in the three months ended March 29, down from $US187.6m ($A260.4m) a year earlier.
Revenue slipped two percent to $US1.29b ($A1.7b).
Despite the weaker quarter, Harley said its rate of sales decline has slowed and it has also captured additional market share, as other motorcycle makers face even bigger sales drops.
Harley's US sales fell 9.7 percent in the first quarter, while industry-wide sales of cruisers in the US fell 22.3 percent.
H-D is in the midst of a restructure, which was announced in January.
"Every reduction in workforce we look at very carefully," said out going H-D chief executive, Jim Ziemer. "We need to manage the business to make sure we're well positioned to grow when the economy turns around."
Keith Wandell will succeed Ziemer on May 1.
Meanwhile, Polaris, the manufacture of snowmobiles, ATVs and motorcycles under the Victory banner, has also announced better than expected first quarter results, citing lower commodity costs as one of the major reasons.
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