Faurecia posted a bigger than expected 22% fall in full year sales and its shares slipped, but its loss narrowed and it hopes for a return to profit in 2010 as markets recover.
Faurecia said it hoped to return to pretax profit this year and pledged to step up cost cuts after achieving savings of EUR663m (US$905.7m) last year, Reuters reported.
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Chief executive Yann Delabriere said the group wanted to cut fixed costs by EUR100m in 2010. Operating income should grow to over EUR200m this year.
However, Delabriere said while the first half of 2010 should be marked by production growth in the car sector, there was little visibility for the second half.
“The upturn in global automotive production, which began in the second half of 2009, is set to continue in the first half of this year,” Faurecia said.
Faurecia should post 4% product sales growth this year, on a like-for-like basis and taking into account two acquisitions, the company said, adding that growth in the first half should be more sustained.
Delabriere told the La Tribune newspaper: “For the first half we expect growth of more than 15%, that is 10% in Europe, 15% in South America, 30% in China, 45% in North America.”
“For the second half, however, we lack visibility,” Delabriere said, adding “we fear a fall of 12%, particularly in Europe.”
Cost-cutting efforts linked to its “Challenge 2009” programme helped it swing to a second half operating profit of EUR95.6m versus a EUR0.9m loss in the same period a year earlier.
The group posted full-year sales of EUR9.293bn while the operating loss edged down to EIR91.7m compared with a loss of EUR91.2m last year. The net loss narrowed to EUR433.6m from EUR574.8m in 2008.
