Today is the first day of Spring and it is also St. Brigid’s Day, which celebrates the arrival Spring, the start of longer and warmer days ahead.

However, at the moment, it looks like we are in for the long haul with this lockdown. Restrictions have been extended until the 5th of March. I hope that you, your business and staff are all managing ok. We just have to keep doing the best we can during all this chaos. Getting outside and doing some exercise, even if it is just going for a long walk, is very important. There might be some nearby park or forest trail within 5km of where you live, that you could visit. 

Last week and this week, in the US, was and is earnings week. This is when companies listed on the New York stock exchange, such as the DOW Jones, NASDAQ and the S&P 500, report their earnings. Earnings on these exchanges are reported every three months and last week was the end of year results, or quarter four earnings (Q4). Many of the brands we sell are listed on the major US indexes such as John Deere, Toro, Kubota, AGCO and many more. It is interesting to see that the share price of a lot of these companies has appreciated substantially in the past twelve months, many having increased by as much as 50% and one company’s share price has almost doubled since this time last year. How could this be when 2020 threw us into a pandemic and sales of machines remained static or may have increased only slightly? Some say that the US Federal Reserve will do anything to stop businesses from going under. There is ‘the government will save us no matter what’ attitude among some companies and many investors believe in this mantra also, which is probably why the US stock markets are at their near all time highs – free money and 0% interest rates being the driving force behind them. 

This frenzy of stock market buying has spilled into Europe with the German battery making company, Varta, being an example of one company that has benefited from the ‘man on the street’ investor. Varta batteries are used in all types of machines including agricultural machinery. At the time of writing their stock price has more than doubled since this time last year.

All these high stock valuations could all end up in tears for some investors, just like it did in the late 1990’s with the dotcom bubble burst. However, for us in this industry, just like the lockdown, we are in this business for the longer haul and we should try and keep focused on what we do well – providing our customers with reliable equipment and after sales service, no matter what happens on the stock market.

To come down to earth with more meaningful data, the latest figures issued by the Farm Tractor & Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA) show that tractor registrations only decreased 3% in 2020, compared to the previous year. According to the FTMTA 1,910 units were registered in 2020. The 101 – 120 horse power range was the horse power band with the highest level of registrations in 2020, representing almost 32% of all registrations. During the year 87% of all tractors registered had over 100hp, 56% over 120hp and 29% over 150hp. You can see a more detailed breakdown of these figures by visiting the FTMTA website.