“Best” financial year in Caterpillar’s history

The Cat D10 Dozer (PHOTO: Caterpillar)

North America was the only region to see growth in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the previous year, with the region posting an increase of sales of 4%. Sales in Latin America were down 25%, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EAME) saw sales drop by 18%, while there was a 4% decline in Asia-Pacific.

The OEM said that the decrease was due to lower sales volume driven by the impact from changes in dealer inventories, partially offset by higher sales of equipment to end users. Dealer inventory decreased during the fourth quarter of 2023, compared with an increase during the fourth quarter of 2022.

Despite this decline in the last quarter of the year, full-year sales and revenues for Caterpillar in 2023 were US$67.1 billion, up 13% compared with US$59.4 billion in 2022. Operating profit margin was 19.3% in 2023, compared with 13.3% in 2022.

“I’m very proud of our global team’s strong performance as they achieved the best year in our 98-year history, including record full-year sales and revenues, record adjusted profit per share and record ME&T free cash flow,” said Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Jim Umpleby.

The company’s Resource Industries – which includes mining equipment – also saw a decline in sales in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the same quarter in 2022. Total sales were US$3.242 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023, a decrease of US$194 million (6%).