H1 EBIT margin hits record high of 6.8% at Autoneum

The consistent strategic focus on profitable growth is showing results, with Autoneum significantly increasing its profitability and earnings in the first half of 2014. This was due to operational improvements in Europe, higher global customer volumes in Asia, and higher levels of vertical integration by expanding the production of basic materials.

EBIT rose significantly from 55.9 million CHF to 66.8 million CHF. The EBIT margin hit a new record high of 6.8%. Net profit increased by 27.9% to 40.0 million CHF, pushing earnings per share up accordingly from 4.27 CHF in the first half-year 2013 to 6.19 CHF. Furthermore, Business Group Europe reached an important mid-term financial target by achieving an EBITDA margin of 7.7%.

The production of light vehicles grew at a moderate pace to 44.1 million vehicles in the first half of 2014. Whilst automobile production in Europe, North America, and Asia increased year over year, production volumes fell in the SAMEA (South America, Middle East, Africa, and Russia) market region.

In local currencies and adjusted for the sale of the former subsidiary in Italy, Autoneum increased its net sales by 2.9%. Once again, net sales of all Business Groups (BG) rose in local currencies year over year. The loss of sales from the Italian subsidiary and the drastic devaluation of various currencies in Autoneum’s markets led to a decline of net sales consolidated in Swiss francs from 1?078.0 million CHF to 980.6 million CHF (–9.0%).

Major progress in profitability and earnings confirms Autoneum’s consistent strategic focus on profitable growth, with the company increasing EBITDA in the first half of 2014 to 99.1 million CHF (prior year period 90.9 million CHF).

The EBITDA margin climbed to 10.1% (prior year period 8.4%), while EBIT rose significantly by 11.0 million CHF to 66.8 million CHF. This equals an EBIT margin of 6.8% and an increase of 1.6 percentage points compared to the prior year period.

The key factors driving this positive trend were operational improvements and the successful implementation of capacity adjustments in Europe, higher global customer volumes in Asia, and higher levels of vertical integration by expanding the production of basic materials. In addition, Business Group Europe reached an important mid-term financial target, achieving an EBITDA margin of 7.7%.

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Autoneum