Winterthur, Switzerland — Autoneum increased sales in local currencies by 2.4% to CHF 2.2 bn in the 2017 financial year, the company said.
The company, which makes automotive seating components said that its European production capacity was at ‘near-maximum’ utilisation and business in South America, the Middle East and Africa turned around over the year.
Global light vehicle production in 2017 was up 2% on 2016, the firm said, with Asia and Europe growing at a similar level. It benefited from strong production growth in Brazil.
Revenue increases outside the North America market offset declines there, the company said.
Revenue growth in Europe was up 4.7% in local currencies, which was slightly larger than the 4.6% by which the market for Autoneum’s products fell in North America.
In Asia, high volume orders from Japanese, US and European customers led to a rise in revenue of 14%. The South America, Middle East and Asia business unit experienced a rise in sales of 29.6% because of higher volumes in Brazil, Argentina, Turkey and South Africa.