Thanks to strong production capacity utilization in Europe, material efficiency and increases in productivity, there was a renewed improvement in the operating result in 2015, the company reports.

Based on the unaudited figures it is expected that net profit will be lower than in the previous year despite the improved operating result due to one-time expenses associated with the payment of 31.5 million CHF to the German Federal Cartel Office and a normalization of the tax ratio.

Automobile industry

With 88.3 million light vehicles produced and growth of just 1.0%, the global automobile industry recorded the weakest growth momentum in 2015 since the automotive crisis in 2009. While automobile production in Europe, North America and Asia made gains, the production volumes in South America declined on the previous year due to the economic crisis and associated fall in demand.

Thanks to a good order situation and corresponding utilization of production capacities, Autoneum increased its net sales in local currencies by 10.6% in 2015 and in doing so outperformed global market growth.

Sales growth

Compared with the previous year, three of the four Business Groups considerably increased sales in local currencies and distinctly outperformed market growth. Due to several ramp-ups, the net sales of Business Group Europe rose by 13.1% in local currencies in 2015.

Business Group North America grew by 8.8% in organic terms in the reporting year thanks to production for high-volume models of US-American and Japanese vehicle manufacturers. Almost all of the 15 best-selling vehicle models in the USA were equipped with Autoneum components.

At 20.6%, Business Group Asia once again recorded sales growth in local currencies which was achieved through extensive series launch for models of international and local automobile manufacturers and growth with Japanese customers in China who were more successful than the average. The sales of Business Group SAMEA (South America, Middle East and Africa) were severely depleted by the slump in the key market of Brazil and fell by 5.7% in local currencies.

Operating results

Thanks to the strong utilization of production capacities in Europe, material efficiency and increases in productivity, Autoneum boosted its operating result in 2015. The operating margin before one-time expenses associated with the payment of 31.5 million CHF to the German Federal Cartel Office will exceed that of the previous year.

However, it is anticipated that despite the improved operating result, the one-time expenses and higher tax expenses resulting from a normalization of the tax ratio will lead to lower net profit compared to the previous year.

www.autoneum.com