Knorr-Bremse, the commercial vehicle braking systems supplier, said the first nine months of 2018 revenues increased 9.5% year on year to EUR4.994bn.
Growth in the commercial vehicle systems segment was the result of a higher truck production rate and resulting revenue increases in the OE business, mainly in North America.
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EBITDA rose 12.6% to EUR876m and EBITDA margin 40 basis points to 17.5%, from 17.1%.
Based on this increase and lower disposal-related write-downs, EBIT rose 16.5% to EUR718m.
CEO Klaus Deller said: "Our company is performing exactly as we had expected. Our above-average R&D costs of 6.8% of revenues pay dividends and we intend to generate above-average growth, based on sector megatrends in the medium term."
Order backlog reached a new high of EUR4.449bn EUR at the end of the third quarter, an increase of 11.9%. For the CVS unit, the truck production rate and content per vehicle continues to rise.
CVS revenues were up 9.8% at EUR2.362m. EBITDA increased to EUR386m, leading to a slightly improved margin of 16.4% (16.3%). EBIT margin was 13.7% versus 13.4%.
"Hence, the segment delivered a solid result in spite of a slight decrease of the aftermarket contribution of 26% of revenues (28%) which was due to the North America business," the supplier said.
Outlook
Assuming a stable economic backdrop, the company expects to generate EUR6.7bn-EUR6.8bn in revenues for full year 2018 (EUR6.154 m) and an EBITDA margin of 17.5% to 18.5% (18.1%).
The medium-term outlook remained unchanged.
