JCB has announced it remained profitable in 2020 despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on its global manufacturing operations.
Last year, sales turnover fell to £3.1 billion (2019: £4.2 billion), while machine sales decreased to 74,590 (2019: 92,216). Earnings on an EBITDA basis stood at £228 million (2019: £414 million).
“In March 2020, £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," said JCB CEO Graeme Macdonald. "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.”
Source: JCB
