During the first half of the year, some countries reported improvements regarding the progress of vaccinations around the world about COVID-19. Meanwhile, some countries struggled with preventing new variants and infections of the virus. In Japan, a state of emergency was declared for the second time in April. This had a detrimental effect on the shutdown of factories and the manufacturing of goods. Additional pressure was put on employees as the economy remained lifeless.
Shimano, a cycling manufacturer with headquarters in Sakai, Japan was one of the companies affected by the state of emergency. Recently, Shimano published its financial results for the first half of 2021. Similar to other countries that have struggled to maintain the novel coronavirus, Shimano also shares the sudden boom in bike sales many other international companies are experiencing. Although Japan saw no significant demand in bicycle sales, compared to that of their overseas competitors in Europe and North America, it was noted that their market inventories remained at significant and appropriate levels.
Though some of Shimano's group factories experienced temporary shut down, numbers still are high. The company saw a net sales increase of 73.4% from the sale period of the previous year at 215,599 million yen. There was also an operating income increase to 152.1% or 57,885 million yen. In the first six months of 2020, Shimano reported net sales of 160,255 million yen. Compared to the first half of 2021, which saw 264,694 million. Resulting in a 104,439 million increase.
For the first half of the fiscal year 2021, net sales grew to 65.2% from the same period of the previous year to 264,694 million yen. Additionally, manufacturing income rose 143.9% to 69,922 million yen. Meanwhile, ordinary income increased 104.5% to 73,900 million yen. The net income attributable to owners of parents also rose to 56,007 million yen or 79.5%. As a result of the demands for bicycles, the company has increased production capacity in both domestic and international companies.
