IT’S hard to deny that over the last couple of years Yamaha stands out for introducing some of the most well-judged new models on the market, with machines like the MT-09, MT-07 and the new R1 all scoring rave reviews.

And its latest financial figures show that those bikes are turning into better sales and bigger profits.

Figures for the first half of 2015 revealed today show that the firm’s net sales were up 65.1 billion yen to 821.1 billion yen, with the motorcycle division accounting for the lion’s share of that.

Looking at bikes alone, sales were worth 518.2 billion yen, an increase of 36.8 billion over the first half of 2014.

Profit figures, in the form of operating income, showed even more impressive growth. Overall, Yamaha’s operating income rose from 49.1 billion yen between January-June 2014 to 69.7 billion yen in the same period this year, showing growth of 41.9 per cent.

Bikes accounted for 18.6 billion yen of that operating income, a rise of 65.8 per cent over the same period last year.