"I have been in the business for a long time and saw several challenging seasons. But it's the first time that I've seen such difficult conditions," said CEO
"For us, it's a bad winter."
The Ski-Doo maker plans to cut snowmobile production by 30 per cent this year due to the build-up of inventory languishing in retailers' stockrooms across
Profits fell 48.5 per cent year over year in the three months ended
BRP posted net income of
On an normalized basis, the company said it earned
Seasonal product sales shrank by more than a quarter, "mainly on snowmobile due to unfavourable winter conditions," the company said in its earnings release Thursday. The decrease helped drag down total revenue 12.5 per cent to
Overstocked inventories also resulted from late shipments of seasonal products the previous year — caused by supply chain kinks — meaning dealers had less need to buy new ones from BRP last year, it said.
Nonetheless, Boisjoli remained upbeat about the treaded, two-ski machines — the original product of
"We'll bounce back after," the chief executive said.
"The industry is quite stable. But it remains that we're happy to be more diversified than 20 years ago," he added, pointing to other product lines such as side-by-sides, an off-road vehicle that enjoyed high sales in the company's fourth quarter.
The warmer weather may even be prompting earlier-than-usual purchases of those powersport products.
"Anecdotally, we've had some dealers say, 'You know what, my snowmobile business has slowed down significantly in February, March, but consumers are walking in and buying (off-road vehicle) products instead,'" said chief financial officer
BRP's snowmobile sales decline lined up with an industry-wide decrease, said analyst
The company saw its retail sales in
BRP also managed to boost its overall market share for powersports in
Looking ahead, the company forecast revenue of between
It predicted diluted earnings of
While the forecast figures notched below analysts' expectations, BRP shares rose
The company also raised its dividend, saying it will now pay
"Although we expect the powersports industry slowdown will persist through much of (fiscal year) 2025, we continue to see BRP gaining market share and introducing new products, which will position the company well for an eventual end market rebound," said
This report by The Canadian Press was first published
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