Harley-Davidson encourages women to grab the handlebars on Friday, May 2, for International Female Ride Day

Over the past decade, women have increasingly embraced the sport of motorcycling – seeking the freedom and empowerment associated with riding solo on the open road. Today, in celebration of the growing presence of women in the sport, Harley-Davidson is participating in International Female Ride Day and encouraging female riders around the world to allocate time to hit the open road.

International Female Ride Day is devoted to women riders of all ages and experience levels--spotlighting their passion for and involvement in the sport of motorcycling. The event celebrates women of all ages who take life by the handlebars by encouraging them to ride, no matter what type or style of motorcycle. This is the first year the Motor Company will be involved with this event, started last year by Vicki Gray of MOTORESS.

"The growth in the number of female riders over the past two decades is exciting, from 4 percent in 1990 to 12 percent today,” said Leslie Prevish, Women’s Outreach Manager for Harley-Davidson Motor Company. “Our participation in the event is our way of embracing and acknowledging women motorcyclists worldwide.” Read more

Harley-Davidson, Inc. announces results of Annual Shareholder Meeting

Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE: HOG) announced today that its Board of Directors increased the dividend at the Annual Shareholder Meeting in Milwaukee on April 26, 2008.  All items of business presented to shareholders were approved at the meeting.

The Board of Directors of Harley-Davidson, Inc. approved a cash dividend of $0.33 per share for the second quarter of 2008.  The dividend is payable June 20, 2008, to shareholders of record as of June 5, 2008. This represents an increase of 10% over the previous dividend paid on March 18, 2008.

During the meeting, the shareholders approved the re-election of George H. Conrades, Sara L. Levinson, George L. Miles, Jr., and Jochen Zeitz as Class II Directors.  Also, Ernst & Young LLP was ratified as the Company's independent registered public accounting firm for calendar year 2008.

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Harley-Davidson reports first quarter results

Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE: HOG) today announced its results for the first quarter ended March 30, 2008.  Revenue for the quarter was $1.31 billion compared to $1.18 billion in the year-ago quarter, a 10.8 percent increase.  Net income for the quarter was $187.6 million compared to $192.3 million, a decrease of 2.5 percent compared to the first quarter of 2007.  First quarter diluted earnings per share (EPS) were $0.79, a 6.8 percent increase compared to last year’s $0.74.

“With growing weakness in the economy, U.S. retail sales of Harley-Davidson® motorcycles were down 12.8 percent in the first quarter. Although these retail results are disappointing, Harley-Davidson’s U.S. dealers outperformed the heavyweight motorcycle industry, which was down 14.0 percent,” said Jim Ziemer, Chief Executive Officer of Harley-Davidson, Inc.

“We’ve said on a number of occasions that we would closely monitor the retail environment and regularly assess our wholesale shipment plans, and we remain committed to shipping fewer Harley-Davidson motorcycles to our worldwide dealer network than we expect they will sell this year.  In view of U.S. retail trends and uncertainty about the future of the economy, we now plan to ship 23,000 to 27,000 fewer Harley-Davidson motorcycles in 2008 than we shipped in 2007, resulting in total planned 2008 shipments between 303,500 and 307,500 units,” Ziemer said.

“We will achieve the shipment reduction through temporary plant shutdowns and adjustments to daily production rates.  This will result in a decrease of about 370 unionized employees over the next several months.  Our management group and union leaders will work together to implement this reduction.”

“The Company will also be reducing the non-production workforce by about 360 jobs. We believe these actions will better position the Company for a business environment that we expect to continue to be challenging,” Ziemer said.  

“Harley-Davidson is fortunate to be dealing with the current economic environment from a position of financial strength.  We are a great company with an exceptionally powerful brand. We are optimistic about our long term business prospects and we will continue to invest in marketing, product development and our international business to drive future growth.”

“For 2008, the Company now expects earnings per share to decrease between 15 and 20 percent compared to 2007 resulting in expected earnings per share of $3.00 to $3.18,” said Ziemer.  This supersedes all previous guidance on earnings per share and other measures. Read more

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Harley-Davidson employees in Wisconsin approve new labor agreements

All three unions representing Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) employees in Wisconsin voted today to ratify new collective bargaining agreements with the Company. The new four-year agreements, which cover approximately 2,210 employees, became effective retroactive to April 1.

The Company has individual labor agreements with United Steelworkers (USW) Local 2-209, representing about 1,700 employees and  International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) Lodge 78, representing about 150 employees, in the Milwaukee area; and with USW Local 460 in Tomahawk, Wis., which represents about 360 employees.

“Harley-Davidson has a long history of working with our union partners to manage the business. We thank our employees and the union leaders for their important contributions to the success of these negotiations and to the success of Harley-Davidson,” said Harold Scott, Harley-Davidson Vice President, Human Resources. Read more

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