Polaris Industries Inc. has reported that its sales for the full year 2015 totaled a record $4,719.3 million, an increase of +5 percent compared to sales of $4,479.6 million for the full year 2014.
Sales for the fourth quarter of 2015 totaled $1,105.6 million, a decrease of -13 percent over last year's fourth quarter sales of $1,275.0 million. Including their respective PG&A related sales, motorcycle sales were +33 percent for the fourth quarter at $162.6 million and +67 percent for the full year at $698.3million.
The growth was primarily due to continued strong retail sales for Indian motorcycles and the Slingshot "moto-roadster." North American consumer retail demand for the Polaris motorcycle segment, including Victory, Indian Motorcycle and Slingshot, was up low-single digits percent during the fourth quarter, while overall motorcycle industry retail sales of 900cc and above declined high-single digits percent in the fourth quarter.
Polaris say that interest in the Slingshot continued to be strong as the Company completed a first full retail year for it - a year that far exceeded the Company's expectations for sales and profitability.
Product availability for Indian Motorcycle and Slingshot improved considerably in the 2015 fourth quarter as throughput at the Company's Spirit Lake, Iowa motorcycle plant increased and the new paint facility purchased in Spearfish, South Dakota, began production.
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| Scott Wine, Polaris' Chairman and Chief Executive Officer |
Victory Motorcycles’ retail sales were down mid-teens percent in the 2015 fourth quarter primarily due to continued low product availability. For the fourth quarter and full year 2015, Polaris' motorcycle business gained a significant amount of market share.
"While 2015 was a difficult year, we did manage to grow market share in each of our businesses and increased sales and earnings per share for the sixth consecutive year. That said, our performance failed to meet our earlier projections, as both external and internal challenges restrained growth and profitability," said Scott Wine, Polaris' Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
"The strengthening dollar and weakening oil markets, combined with an unseasonably warm winter, constrained demand for off-road vehicles and snowmobiles, placing pressure on dealer inventory and forcing us to curtail shipments in the fourth quarter.
"While our execution to plan did not meet our historically high standards, we have taken numerous actions to position Polaris for better performance in 2016.
"Our outlook for 2016 reflects another volatile year in powersports driven by near-term growth pressures from weak end markets as the threat of a worldwide economic slowdown looms. However, we have been in this situation before, and we know how to manage through difficult economic climates. We will continue to optimize dealer inventory, aggressively manage operating costs and other risk exposures, and provide our end-consumer with products and services that exceed their expectations.
"Concurrently we will continue to invest in projects that accelerate future growth and our lean journey, such as the Huntsville, Alabama plant, which is scheduled to begin production in the second quarter of this year. I believe we have the best team in powersports, a strong and diverse portfolio of brands and products, broad capabilities across all our disciplines, and a proven strategy that will continue to create value for our stakeholders in the years to come."