JCB issues warning despite sales hitting £6.5bn and profit surge amid housebuilding struggles
Construction giant JCB has issued a warning over its performance in 2024 despite its sales and profit rising during its latest financial year.
The Staffordshire-based firm, which is one of the world’s largest construction equipment manufacturers, said turnover rose by 14 per cent to £6.5bn in 2023 as demand for its machines increased despite “challenging” market conditions in Europe.
The group also reported a steep 44.5 per cent rise in annual pre-tax profit to £805.8m. Some 123,228 machines rolled off the group’s assembly lines, up from 105,148 the year prior.
The bumper results come despite the global market for construction and agricultural machinery contracting by 4.3 per cent in 2023. JCB currently has a workforce of around 12,000 people, across 150 countries.
JCB raises concerns over 2024 performance
JCB chief executive Graeme Macdonald noted sales had performed “strongly” in North America, the world’s largest market for construction equipment.
“JCB’s business in India also performed well in a growing market and while the UK market remained largely flat in 2023, JCB increased its share of the market,” he said, although he added that a contraction in UK housebuilding activity had had a “negative impact on machine utilisation.”
“The full year market outlook for 2024 is less positive, with challenging conditions in the UK and Europe, particularly in Germany where economic activity has declined sharply during 2024.
JCB chairman Lord Bamford said: “Our family company, JCB, continues to invest both in new production capacity and in product innovation. Earlier this year, we broke ground on our new factory in San Antonio, Texas.
“The company’s ongoing investment in innovative new machines, such as the recently launched JCB Pothole Pro designed to tackle the global scourge of potholes, together with our continued focus on the development of hydrogen combustion engines for our equipment in the future, puts JCB in a strong position for further long-term growth.”
JCB courted controversy earlier this year after it was revealed the digger-maker had continued to supply equipment to Russia despite claiming to have stopped in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.