Yamato Transport (Japan) Has Record Year
Yamato Transport Co, Japan’s top parcel delivery firm, posted a record net profit for the business year just ended thanks to its growing home delivery service and said it would mail in another record for 2002/03. Group net profit for the pioneer of Japan’s popular ‘takkyubin’ door-to-door parcel service which delivers everything from golf bags to cantaloupes was 27.51 billion yen ($214.9 million) in the year to March 31. Sales climbed 2.8 percent to 932.12 billion yen. Yamato slipped into the red in 2000/01 due to a huge special loss related to the provision of retirement benefits, and its bottom line is still vulnerable to market swings. Nonetheless, it has cut costs and grown in a prolonged economic slump and with competition on the rise. For the year through March 2003, Yamato forecast a net profit of 28.7 billion yen on sales of 968 billion yen. While up 3.8 percent from last year, the sales estimate falls short of analysts’ consensus forecasts for 990 billion, according to research firm Multex.”
Reuters: “Yamato said it handled 948 million parcels in 2001/02, up 5.5 percent from the year before. But the per parcel price dropped 11 yen to 721 yen last business year and is expected to dip another six yen in 2002/03. Group operating profit was a record 53.19 billion yen and is expected to rise 2.8 percent in 2002/03. Ahead of the results, Yamato’s stock ended Friday’s session down 0.43 percent at 2,325 yen, compared with a 0.93 percent rise in the benchmark Nikkei average Yamato has moved between about 2,000 and 3,000 yen for the past two years. ‘With unit prices falling, Yamato’s ability to grow continues to fade,’ said Masahiro Isono, analyst at Tsubasa Research. ‘But it has established itself as a winner in the sector and the stock is now in an acceptable range.'”
The article states: “A pledge by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi when he took office in April 2001 to privatise the postal services was seen as a chance for Yamato to expand its business. Developments surrounding this issue have often moved Yamato’s shares. But last month, Yamato President Keiji Aritomi said the company would not provide mail delivery services under the government’s deregulation plan because the government retained too heavy a hand. ‘We have no intention of entering the mail services business given the present plan,’ said Miki Shiratori, general manager of public relations. ‘We will continue to prepare, however, and strengthen the services we already have.’ One of the company’s strong performers has been its ‘kuroneko mail’ service delivering magazines, catalogues and product samples to mail boxes nationwide. Sales grew 5.0 percent last year and are expected to rise another 11 percent in 2002/03. The door-to-door shipping business grew 3.9 percent last year, but is seen rising a less-pronounced 3.6 percent in the current year. Competition has been fierce, Yamato said, as companies cut costs with consumer sentiment weak. On the international front, Yamato said last month it would end its freight operation with United Parcel Service Inc by acquiring the 49 percent of Yamato UPS International Air Cargo it does not own, turning the firm into a wholly-owned subsidiary.” Revenues at Yamato’s international business dropped off 9.4 percent last year due in part to the negative effects of the September 11 attacks on air travel, a Yamato representative said. (Source: Reuters)
