Digger giant stays in profit despite Covid-19
DIGGER giant JCB has said it has remained profitable in the last year despite being severely hit by the Covid pandemic.
The Rocester-based company has made the announcement on its profits in 2020 despite the impact of coronavirus on its global manufacturing operations.
Last year sales turnover fell to £3.1 billion, compared to £4.2 billion in 2019, while machine sales decreased to 74,590, compared to 92,216 in 2019. Earnings on an EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) basis stood at £228 million. In 2019 the total was £414 million.
JCB reported last year that demand for its machines fell by half due to the pandemic and it led to the company axing 950 jobs. Bosses also told 500 Guidant agency workers that they were no longer needed.
However, things have now turned around with the company employing hundreds of new staff once again this year.
JCB chief executive officer Graeme Macdonald said: “In March 2020,
This is a great British breakthrough and we will be producing these engines by the end of next year. Lord Bamford
£1 billion worth of orders disappeared overnight with the onset of Covid-19 and JCB was forced to close its 21 manufacturing plants around the world for around two months. Despite the severe impact on its business, JCB remained profitable in 2020 as it has done for the past 76 years.
“The turnaround in 2021 has been dramatic: we are sitting here now in September with four times the usual order bank we had in normal times two to three years ago. As a result, we are ramping up production to levels we have not had before. I have never seen anything like it in my career.”
JCB chairman Lord Bamford said: “The past is the past and, while 2020 was undoubtedly one of the most difficult years in our history, our
focus is now very firmly on the future. We continue to lead the way in zero-emissions technology, particularly with the development of the construction equipment industry’s first internal combustion engine powered by hydrogen, which is already being tested in JCB machines. This is a great British breakthrough and we will be producing these engines by the end of next year.”