(RTTNews) - Thursday, Motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson Inc. (HOG: News ) posted a steep decline in second-quarter profit, largely impacted by lower motorcycle shipments and charges related to HDFS. The company also said it would further slash workforce, while lowering its 2009 shipment expectations for Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

Q2 Results

The Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based company's second-quarter net income plunged to $19.8 million or $0.08 per share from $222.8 million or $0.95 per share in the prior year quarter.

On average, 13 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to post earnings of $0.24 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

The company noted that the latest quarter results were primarily affected by the planned 27.6% reduction in motorcycle shipments as well as by the one-time reclassification of finance receivables from held-for-sale to held-for-investment and the related $72.7 million non-cash provision to establish the related initial credit loss allowance.

Additionally, the company recorded a $28.4 million non-cash, one-time impairment charge to write off the goodwill recorded in connection with the 1995 purchase of HDFS, due to Harley-Davidson's lower shipment volume projections.

Quarterly net revenues dropped to $1.15 billion from the previous year's revenue of $1.57 billion, falling short of thirteen Wall Street analysts' consensus revenue estimate of $1.18 billion for the quarter.

Business Segments
On a segmental basis, the company's worldwide retail unit sales of new Harley-Davidson motorcycles descended 30.1% from last year, while retail new Harley-Davidson motorcycle sales in the U.S. declined 35.1% and were down 18.2% in international markets versus the previous year. Industry-wide retail sales of heavyweight motorcycles in the U.S. decreased 48.1% for the same period.

The company shipped 58,179 Harley-Davidson motorcycles in the second quarter of 2009, compared to 80,326 motorcycles shipped in the year-earlier quarter and within the company's guidance for the first quarter.

The motorcycles segment generated second-quarter revenue of $808.7 million, down 31.7% from last year's revenue of $1.18 billion, while the financial services segment incurred an operating loss of $62.1 million versus operating income of $37.1 million earned a year ago.

Year-To-Date Highlights

For the six-month period, the company reported net income of $137.1 million or $0.59 per share, compared to $410.4 million or $1.74 per share in the same period of last year.

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