Aftermarket Moto Design 297 AMD297 April 2024 | Page 6

CVO Pan America CVO Road Glide ST

<<< Continued from cover and lay the foundation to drive retail sales growth in ' 24 ." Maybe being a touch ' demob ' happy , at one point O ' Sullivan even tried to convince those listening that unsold 2023 inventory and a high level of carry-over models from 2023 was a ' good thing ' as they will " serve as an interesting entry price point for customers that prefer some of the features of the older technology " - which rather throws the adequacy of the new model range initiatives under a fairly large bus . Harley cites the 2023 results highlights as including delivery of a ( diluted ) EPS of $ 4.87 , achieving a 13.6 % operating margin at HDMC with unit profitability " returned to historically healthy levels " - with Zeitz stating that " our average unit profitability is up from [ around ] $ 1,300 to $ 3,700 . So not being obsessed by unit sales over the past few years has served us well in terms of overall profitability , which is improved from 6.3 % to 13.6 %. " Our focus is on growth and profitable growth , and that ' s how we will complete our hardwired stage two strategy at the end of 2025 . What comes after that , we will address at the appropriate time . " We ' re not obsessed by market shares . I never have , nor ever will be . But of course , its pleasing to see that , in this tough environment [ for top-end discretionaries ], especially in the fourth quarter , we were able to grow our touring share to 75 %, large cruiser to 80 % ( give or take 5 %). That ' s commanding ." Though not explicitly stated , the assumption must be that Zeitz was referencing domestic sales only . While Harley remains a global player in the small and shrinking ' large cruiser ' segment , realistically it has barely even ' been at the races ' in touring platform terms elsewhere . HDMC global motorcycle shipments were down by 7 % year-over-year at 179,984 units , with 2023 North American retail unit sales data putting them -10% at 105,900 . HDFS operating income finished down 26 %. Despite the LiveWire Del Mar electric motorcycle ( the first bike off the S2 platform ) finally becoming available to

its 126 strong global dealer network - and a 21 % increase in LiveWire branded units sales over 2022 , LiveWire CEO Karim Donnez attempted to spin the progress that Harley ' s loss-making EV subsidiary is making , even though the 660 units sold in 2023 ( 514 of them in Q4 ) look far from convincing when put against the September 2022 SPAC Prospectus forecast of 100,000 units sales by the end of next year ( 250,000 by the end of the decade ). LiveWire reported a Q4 2023 loss of $ 35m and FY loss of $ 113m on full year revenue of $ 38m , which was -18 % over 2022 despite actually selling some motorcycles (+ 11 % YOY ). Having offloaded Serial 1 , the question must now be just how long the core business can carry the fiscal drag of Livewire . In terms of the core business , HDMC Q4 global motorcycle shipments were -13 % YOY at 29,544 , with HDFS operating income down by -10 %. For the full year 2024 , the company says it expects HDMC revenue to be in the range flat to down -9 %, with operating income in the margin of 12.6 % to 13.6 %; HDFS operating income is expected to be between flat and up by as much as + 5 %. LiveWire electric motorcycle unit sales are forecast to be between 1,000 and 1,500 , but with a potentially even worse operating loss of between $ 115 to $ 125m . H-D Inc . is forecast to be funding capital investments of $ 225 to $ 250m . In what can only be described as a ' shockingly bad ' Q4 ( unless you are a Wall Street analyst it would appear !), consolidated revenue was down -8 %, driven by a revenue decline of -14 % at HDMC , partially offset by revenue growth of + 15 % at HDFS . In the worsening picture reported for a fourth quarter now shorn of the pre- Hardwire era of traditionally early new model introductions , the consolidated operating loss was $ 21m versus operating income of ( just ) $ 4m in the prior year ' s final quarter . The result was driven by an operating loss of $ 44m at HDMC , a decline of -10 % at HDFS , and the operating loss of $ 35m in the LiveWire segment . For the full year , consolidated revenue was up + 1 % [ hurrah !], driven by a revenue increase of + 16 % at HDFS , partially offset by a revenue decline of -1 % at HDMC . For the full year ,

Income statements in THREE MONTHS ENDED TWELVE MONTHS ENDED $ 1,000s ( except share ) 2023 Q4 2022 Q4 2023 Q4 2022 Q4

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