Southfield, Michigan — Lear, the automotive interiors and seating company, generated $6.9bn sales in the first half of 2020. This is a fall of 32% compared with the same period in 2019.
Lear profits down 30% in H1 2020
Scott: business got better as Q2 progressed
The company made a core operating loss of $43m in the first half of 2020. In same period in the previous year, the figure was $730m.
Looking across the company as a whole, CEO Ray Scott said: 'The second quarter of 2020 was one of the most challenging in our history. Our business was negatively impacted by unprecedented production shutdowns in our major markets in April and May.'
Sales in the company's seating business subsided by 34% between the first half of 2019 and 2020, to $5.1bn. Adjusted earnings in the division declined by 85% to $99m.
It was not all bad news for the business in the quarter, however. As Scott explained: 'We saw weekly improvements in capacity utilisation and in our business performance throughout the month of June. We also had another quarter of strong business wins, including additional conquest [new] business in seating.'
