Manganese Bronze says no profit for 2011 after poor taxi sales
BLACK cab manufacturer Manganese Bronze Holdings has said it will fail to make a profit for the year ended December 31, 2011 due to poor sales of its iconic vehicles.
In a statement, the Coventry firm said UK sales were down more than 9% last year on 2010 – 14.6% in the fourth quarter alone.
The firm is also late completing dispatch of its order to transport authorities in Azerbaijan for 1,000 new taxis. The second batch of 500 vehicles should have been shipped in October but now won’t be dispatched until the end of this month.
In the UK, sales of TX4 taxis in Q4 of 2011 were 328 (384: Q4 2010), a decline of 14.6%. This brings the UK sales for the year ended December 31, 2011 to 1,502 units (1,653: 2010), a fall of 9.1% year on year. Overall, 754 vehicles were sold in H2 of 2011, compared to 748 in H1 of 2011.
In the trading update, MBH said the Eurozone debt crisis and its potential impact on banks had undermined confidence within the global banking community and made it more difficult to secure finance for international trade.
It issued an Irrevocable Documentary Credit December 29 to cover the last 500 vehicles of the Azerbaijan order. Due to the delay in securing finance, international sales for the quarter ended December 31, 2011 were only 14 vehicles, bringing the total for the year to 705 vehicles (226: 2010).
“The overall impact of lower UK sales and the delayed fulfilment of the Azerbaijan order will prevent the group from achieving a profitable result for the year ended December 31, 2011. Whilst a proportion of this shortfall should be recovered when the delayed Azerbaijan sales are recorded in 2012, any continued softening of global economic conditions would mean that the group is likely to fall short of meeting expectations for the current year,” said the firm in its statement.
On a stronger note, MBH said its relationship with its Chinese joint venture partner Geely continued to be very positive. The partners are collaborating on the launch of Geely products in the UK later this year, the development of the TXN, the saloon-car based taxi scheduled for introduction in 2014, and other business opportunities.
