The ongoing global farm recession and weak construction markets pushed down sales and profits for John Deere. Today it reported results for its 2016 fiscal year. Sales and revenue dropped 8 per cent, and net income fell 21 per cent, compared to the previous year. Despite those figures, chairman and CEO Sam Allen says 2016 was one of Deere's ten best years for both sales and profits.
For the coming year, the company predicts overall equipment sales and profits will decline only 1 per cent. And it believes the construction sector will begin to improve and boost sales in that division by 1 per cent, while ag equipment could drop about 1 per cent.