Mizuno increased sales by 0.5 percent to ¥111.3 billion (€988.0m-$1,348.3m) in the nine months to Dec. 31 thanks to growth in Europe and the Americas, while Asian revenues declined. The operating profit increased by 74.5 percent to ¥3.8 billion (€33.7m-$46.0m) in the nine-month period, ordinary profit was up by 35.2 percent to ¥3.3 billion (€29.3m-$40.0m) and net income up by 43.8 percent to ¥1.6 billion (€14.2m-$19.4m).
The gross profit margin rose to 42.4 percent of sales thanks to a decrease of inventory levels for obsolete products and a reduction in procurement costs.
Total sales went up by 5.1 percent to ¥7.4 billion (€65.7m-$89.6m) in Europe and by 9.9 percent to ¥15.9 billion in the Americas. At constant currency rates, European revenues surged by 19.5 percent and sales in the Americas were up by 15.5 percent. In Europe, sales were fired by all product categories while in the Americas the golf business was flat and other product lines booked double-digit growth.
In Japan, instead, urnover dropped by 1.5 percent to ¥81.7 billion (€725.3m-$990.0m). Sales in other Asian countries and Australasia slipped by 1.2 percent to ¥6.4 billion (€53.8m-$77.5m), but were up by 2.2 percent at homogeneous currency rates. Asian sales found support from strong growth in footwear sales in Taiwan.
Mizuno anticipates finishing the full year ending on March 31, 2011 with sales of ¥150 billion (€1,331.6m-$1,817.2m), an operating profit of ¥4.5billion (€40.0m-$54.5m) and net income of ¥2 billion (€17.8m-$24.2m), roughly in line with the expectations of financial analysts.
