JCB backhoes - 70 years and still counting
It's remarkable that it is now 70 years since the first JCB backhoe loader was released on an unsuspecting world.
The company produced 75,693 machines, up from 66,011 in 2016, resulting in a sales turnover increase of about 28% to GBP 3.35 billion (NZ$ 7.37b), up from GBP 2.62b.
Earnings rose by 19% to GBP 341 million (NZ$ 685m), and the company notes that since 1975 the average return on investment has always exceeded 30%.
The global market is said to have risen by 21% in 2017, but JCB was ahead of trend with growth up 28%, much of it derived from big gains in its Loadall telehandler product range.
It has 22 factories worldwide, including 11 in the UK, and about 15,000 employees (7600 in UK).
Production figures for the 2018 year are trending upward: daily production is 500 machines. This continued growth is said to be the stimulus for building a GBP 50m factory at the Uttoxeter base for cab production, scheduled for opening in 2019.
