Photo courtesy of BRP

BRP Inc. last week announced that it increased the revenue forecast for its marine business for fiscal year 2023 but said supply-chain constraints caused retail boat sales to dip in its most recent quarter and are likely to impact the company’s profit in the current quarter (second quarter 2023).

In its fiscal first quarter ended April 30, revenue from BRP’s marine segment increased by 3.8 percent, to Canadian $132.2 million ($105 million), from Canadian $127.4 million ($101.1 million) for the corresponding quarter in 2021, the company said in an earnings press release on Friday.

“The increase was mainly due to a favorable product mix of units sold, as well as favorable pricing,” the statement said.

BRP said it boosted its forecast for marine sales for the remainder of the current fiscal year and now expects revenue in the segment to increase by between 12 percent and 15 percent from the Canadian $512.8 million ($407.1 million) the marine business posted in fiscal 2022.

However, volumes have been subdued thus far in the current quarter because of persistent supply-chain disruptions. That is after retail boat sales declined by 47 percent in the first quarter, compared with the same period in fiscal 2022.

As a result, BRP shares lost 10.4 percent of their value on Friday.

“The company reaffirms its initial guidance and continues to expect another solid year with a normalized EBITDA increase ranging from 12 percent to 15 percent compared to the previous year.” BRP wrote in the earnings release.

“However, the company anticipates that its normalized EBITDA for the second quarter could be flat to down on a percentage basis in the low single digit compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2022 due to supply chain constraints which are expected to continue throughout the year. Still, the company intends to take advantage of an increase in planned production capacity beginning in the second quarter to increase the pace of product deliveries.”

In a separate announcement Friday regarding its board of directors, BRP said Barbara Samardzich was appointed as lead director, replacing Michael Hanley. Estelle Métayer joined the nominating, governance and social responsibility committee. Nicholas Nomicos became chairman of the audit committee and Ernesto Hernández joined the audit committee