Yamaha Motor Posts Quarterly Loss on Lower Motorcycle Demand

Yamaha Motor Co., the world's second- largest motorcycle maker, posted its first quarterly loss in at least four years as the global recession hammered demand.

The company had a fourth-quarter loss of 41.65 billion yen ($467 million) compared with a net income of 3.73 billion yen in the year-earlier period. Bloomberg calculated the loss from preliminary full-year figures released by the company today.

Yamaha, the maker of Royal Star Venture motorcycles, lost customers in North America and Europe as people pared consumption of leisure goods amid the credit crisis and falling home values. The company will cut salaries of executives by as much as 20 percent from February to December.

Full-year net income fell 98 percent to 1.5 billion yen compared with 71.2 billion yen in 2007, the company said in a preliminary earnings report today. Sales dropped 9 percent to 1.6 trillion yen.

The company, which gets 90 percent of its revenue outside of Japan, was also hurt by the stronger yen. The yen gained 17 percent against the U.S. dollar in the fourth quarter, eroding the value of overseas sales.

Yamaha's shares were little changed at 880 yen at the close of trading in Tokyo today. The stock has dropped 5.6 percent so far this year.