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13 Nov 14. JCB pins hopes on Indian revival to boost group sales. JCB said it expects an economic revival in India, its largest market by revenue, to bolster group sales in 2015 as the British manufacturer recovers from a year of stagnant revenue growth and slack demand for its bright yellow diggers across major emerging markets. Lord Bamford, chairman of the world’s third-largest construction equipment maker by volume, told the Financial Times that Indian sales were poised to grow next year after two years of declines, aided by higher exports and a new drive to increase infrastructure investment under the recently-elected prime minister, Narendra Modi. However, he warned that group-wide revenues and profits were likely to fall during 2014, as the privately owned business coped with tough trading conditions in countries such as Brazil and Russia, where he said exports had been “badly hit” by recent economic sanctions against the Russian government. “Our export volumes from India will definitely grow, but so will our domestic Indian volumes,” he said. “[But] overall [global] sales this year will be a little bit less, about £2.6bn down from £2.7bn last year and I guess our profits will be as well.” On Friday, JCB will launch a new £62m facility close to the northern Indian city of Jaipur, its third manufacturing location since first opening a factory in the country in 1979, and the culmination of a recent £250m investment programme. Over the past decades the company has grown to become India’s leading seller of earth movers and backhoe loaders, with the term “JCB” now commonly used to describe diggers made by rival manufacturers such as Hitachi of Japan The new facility comes as part of a wider plan to position India as the group’s major “global manufacturing hub”, he added, with “almost 25 per cent” of its Indian-made vehicles now exported to foreign markets, in particular to the Middle East and Africa. Alongside the likes of carmaker Jaguar Land Rover, Staffordshire-based JCB has been viewed as one of Britain’s highest profile global manufacturing success stories over recent years, with increased investment in manufacturing and engineering operations across a range of developing economies. However, the business has been hit by a slowdown in industrial activity in India over the past three years, which counteracted improving performance in recovering industrial economies such as Britain and the US. It announced plans to cut 150 jobs in the UK last month in response to weak global demand, although Graeme Macdonald, chief executive, said the group had no plans for further reductions in global staff numbers. “The action we have taken is enough,” he said. Alongside India, Lord Bamford said growth in the UK and the US would help sales further during 2015, as recoveries in both countries boosted construction activity and filtered through to demand for manufacturing equipment. “The outlook in Great Britain is quite strong,” he said. “In fact, the only markets in the world which are growing strongly now are the UK and the United States.” JCB’s hopes of higher growth follow those of US-based manufacturer Caterpillar, the world’s largest heavy equipment maker by sales, last month raised its 2014 earnings forecast and said it also expected higher growth levels next year. The British company’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation – the only measure of profitability JCB releases – fell by 14 per cent to £365m during 2013. Revenues were flat at £2.68bn. (Source: FT.com)
09 Nov 14. Airshow China 2014: land systems front and centre at Zhuhai. Images posted on Chinese websites in the week leading up to Airshow China 2014, being held in Zhuhai from 11 to 16 November, show a range of new locally produced tactical and strategic land systems. In the l