After Merida Industries and Giant Group, Shimano, as a third key actor of the bicycle industry, has published its financial report for 2024. In terms of turnover and net profit, the numbers do not look all that bad, and despite many uncertainties, the outlook of the Japanese components manufacturer is cautiously optimistic.
From suppliers to manufacturers, distributors and independent bicycle dealers, the last two and a half years have been wrecking for both the nerves and the motivation for many within the bicycle business. In this situation, good news is all the more welcome, and the numbers that Shimano has published in its financial report for 2024 can be seen as a silver lining in this regard. After a record-breaking 2022 and a drastic drop both in turnover and profits in 2023, the downturn has slowed down significantly throughout the year. At the end of the year, the turnover of the entire corporation stood at JPY 451 billion (US$ 2.93 billion), 4.9 percent less than the year before.
While the turnover is significantly lower than 2022’s record result it still represents a 24 percent growth when compared to 2019 as the last pre-pandemic year. These 24 percent pretty much are due to the inflation over the last five years. Shimano’s bicycle component division netted total sales of JPY 345 billion (US$ 2.24 billion) or 5.2 percent less than the year before. Keep in mind, however, that turnover stood at – 12.3 percent after three quarters of the year. In other words: Shimano’s bicycle-related business was running better that the year before in the second half of 2024. While the operating profit saw another dip, net profit went up by 25 percent.
A look at the most important export markets for Shimano’s bicycle components shows some telling differences. While the value of exports bound for Europe was down by 20.7 percent, the exports to Taiwan even took a harder hit with – 31.3 percent. The business with China on the other hand showed a dynamic growth, recording a year on year plus of 58.5 percent. As for 2025 Shimano’s outlook is cautiously optimistic, expecting a modest growth of about 5 percent. Still the Japanese component maker points at various factors that may slow down the recovery of the bicycle markets: apart from higher costs for various raw materials and disturbances along the supply chains, Shimano also points at national elections in various countries that have brought nationalist parties to power in 2024 and that may stoke a return to protectionist trade policies, protective tariffs and trade conflicts.