The consistent strategic focus on profitable growth is showing results, with Autoneum significantly increasing its profitability and earnings in the first half of 2014.

Autoneum, the market and technology leader in acoustic and thermal management for vehicles, increased sales in local currencies and adjusted for the sale of the former subsidiary in Italy by 2.9%.

EBIT rose significantly from 55.9 million CHF to 66.8 million CHF. The EBIT margin hit a new record of 6.8%. Net profit increased by 27.9%. The Business Group Europe also reached an important mid-term financial target by achieving an EBITDA margin of 7.7%.

Production

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.

Progress in profitability

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.

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.

Leader’s position

Autoneum’s global presence is not only a vital competitive advantage but in a mid-term perspective it also enables additional sales growth via further expansion, the company believes. The newly established company Autoneum Korea will prospectively allow Korean automobile manufacturers to benefit from the long-standing expertise and product portfolio of the global market leader right from the vehicle development stage.

With its new location in South Korea, Autoneum is said to pave the way to further develop partnerships with Korean automobile manufacturers on global production platforms. In North America, Autoneum is expanding its production capacities by adding two new sites in the US Midwest.

Autoneum also reports it has further strengthened its position as technology leader in the reporting period. The heatshield portfolio was expanded to include specially perforated heatshields that absorb vehicle noise effectively. The aluminium heatshields, based on RIMIC technology, now also provide protection against high-frequency sounds by combining them with a sound absorber developed by Autoneum.

Outlook

Compared to the first semester, production volumes in the automotive industry tend to be lower in the seasonally weaker second half of the year.

Autoneum expects a challenging second semester but assumes to maintain the operating margin achieved in the first six months 2014.

Planned investments for 2014 will slightly exceed the previous average rate of investment. The focal points of investments are the expansion of production capacities, the increase of vertical integration, and the implementation of additional operational improvements.

www.autoneum.com