2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 15:44
The supplier Schaeffler got off to a successful start in the new year. The group was able to increase its sales by almost seven percent in the first quarter. Meanwhile, the profit margin in the automotive business is falling.
Schaeffler started the new year with significant sales growth. As the company announced on Thursday, sales in the first quarter rose by 6.9 percent (5.4 percent adjusted for currency effects) to 3.6 billion euros. In the automotive business, the Herzogenaurach-based company was able to achieve growth of 8.3 percent (7 percent) to around 2.8 billion euros. However, Schaeffler earned unexpectedly little operationally in its auto parts division: The profit margin before interest and taxes adjusted for special effects fell by more than one percentage point to 13.1 percent. UBS analyst Julian Radlinger commented that the company fell far short of market expectations.
Strong growth in China
The growth was mainly driven by China, where Schaeffler was able to grow by just over 20 percent. In the industrial sector one could increase in the first three months of the year by 2.4 percent to 783 million euros. “We got off to a good start in the new year. In our automotive business, we are continuously growing above the market. We are back on a growth path in our industrial business,”said Schaeffler boss Klaus Rosenfeld.
Looking at the various markets, Europe grew by 2.9 percent (2.2 percent), the Americas by 9.9 percent (5.5 percent) and Greater China by 18.3 percent (19 percent). Adjusted for special effects, earnings before interest and taxes rose by 3.3 percent to 435 million euros, and the corresponding margin thus fell from 12.6 to 12.2 percent. The bottom line was a good 10 percent higher profit of 279 million euros. The company thus performed roughly as expected at group level. For the current financial year, the company expects currency-adjusted sales growth of four to 5 percent. (AG / FM / dpa)
