Close

Autoliv (ALV) Tops Q1 EPS by 15c; Offers Outlook

April 29, 2016 7:27 AM EDT

Autoliv (NYSE: ALV) reported Q1 EPS of $1.66, $0.15 better than the analyst estimate of $1.51. Revenue for the quarter came in at $2.43 billion versus the consensus estimate of $2.33 billion.

Comments from Jan Carlson, Chairman, President & CEO

“Autoliv had a solid first quarter. Sales growth and operating margin both exceeded our expectations from the beginning of the quarter, operating cash flow was strong and our adjusted earnings per share grew by 17%. I am pleased with the quarter.

"In Passive Safety we had solid growth across most regions and outperformed the light vehicle production. This was due to a generally positive vehicle mix coming from a combination of high Autoliv content on successful platforms and the effects from launches of new models in the second half of 2015.

"We continue to experience solid growth in our business related to the current recall situation in the airbag market. This relates both to the sales of replacement inflators which is now higher than previously expected and the sustainable business we are winning.

"It was a quarter with several important events for our Electronics business. In Active Safety the strong growth continued, particularly in North America and Europe. The new Mercedes E-Class, generally seen as the vehicle with the most advanced autonomous driving features in the world, was launched with a full suite of Autoliv active safety products.

"Additionally, we took the important step of finalizing our joint venture with Nissin Kogyo of Japan. The new joint venture, Autoliv-Nissin Brake Systems, gives us access to the latest technology in brake systems and brake control and we look forward to introducing these new products in our portfolio to our customers around the world. With quality as our first priority we are executing to deliver on our growth and margin expectations while integrating our new businesses into Autoliv.”

Outlook

Mainly based on our customer call-offs we expect organic sales for the second quarter of 2016 to grow by around 10% compared to the same quarter of 2015. Sales from recent M&A activities (ANBS and MACOM) are expected to have a positive effect of around 6%. Currency translations are expected to have a negative effect of around 1%, resulting in a consolidated sales growth of around 15%. The adjusted operating margin, excluding costs for capacity alignments and antitrust related matters, is expected to be around 8.5%. This includes expected integration and purchase accounting related costs for the joint venture with Nissin Kogyo of around $10 million.

The indication for the full year is for an organic sales growth of more than 7%. Sales from recent M&A activities (ANBS and MACOM) are expected to have a positive effect of around 5%. Currency translations are expected to have a negative effect of around 1%, resulting in a consolidated sales growth of more than 11%. The adjusted operating margin, excluding costs for capacity alignments and antitrust related matters, is expected to be more than 9%. This includes expected integration and purchase accounting related costs for the joint venture with Nissin Kogyo of $20-30 million. Since 2015 Autoliv has agreements with several OEMs for new supply capacity for replacement airbag inflators.

Based on customer agreements and its own expectations, the Company now expects deliveries of up to 30 million units in the period 2015 to 2018. It is too early in this evolving situation to be able to determine final delivery volumes.

The projected tax rate, excluding any discrete items, for the full year 2016, is currently expected to be around 29% and is subject to change due to any discrete or nonrecurring events that may occur.

Operational cash flow for the full year is expected to remain strong and to be around $0.8 billion excluding any discrete items.

Capital expenditures in support of our growth strategy are expected to be in a range of 5-6% of sales, including capital expenditures for additional capacity for replacement inflators.

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Autoliv (ALV) click here.



Serious News for Serious Traders! Try StreetInsider.com Premium Free!

You May Also Be Interested In





Related Categories

Earnings, Guidance, Management Comments

Related Entities

Earnings