Nanterre, France — Faurecia saw sales grow strongly in its seating business by 11.5% driven by global light vehicle production growth of 4.9%, the company said in its q1 2017 results.
Faurecia said that seating "growth was driven by Ford with an increase of over 130% while sales to BMW rose by over 20%," in the quarter and will "continue at a similar level in the coming quarters." Overall value added seating sales grew from EUR 1.58 bn in the first quarter of 2016 to EUR 1.8 bn ($1.9 bn) in the 2017.
In automotive interiors, sales also grew by 11.4% to EUR 1.3 bn in q1 2017 compared to EUR 1.2 bn in the first quarter of 2016. The company saw strong growth in China, which it claims was up by 122% and will have "tripled in three years." Growth was driven by Ford, up 15% and Geely-Volvo up 18%. Interiors sales were hit by EUR 58 m with the disposal of a plant in Fountain Inn, US at the end of June 2016 but gained EUR 65 m from the consolidation of two joint ventures.
Overall, Faurecia saw value-added sales in the first quarter of 2017 reach EUR 4.2 bn compared to EUR 3.8 bn in the first quarter of 2016. Around half of the company’s sales came from Europe at EUR 2.1 bn in the first quarter of 2017, driven by strong performance with Renault-Nissan up 9%, BMW up 10% and Ford up 5%. The company says that in the second half of 2017 sales will be boosted by complete seat delivery to Volkswagen group for its large SUVs.
In North America, sales grew 12.9% between the first quarter of 2016 and the first quarter of 2017, reaching EUR 1.2 bn driven by Ford, where the company supplying the complete seat for the F-250, leading to a 25% increase in sales. There was also a 45% increase in sales to Cummins.
Sales in Asia grew by 17.3% to EUR 688 m in the first quarter of 2017 and sales to Chinese OEMs rose 89%. In South America sales grew 44.7%.
Exchange Rates: Xe.com 13 April, 2017
