FRANCE, 27 September 2019 -AKWEL, an automotive and heavy goods vehicle components manufacturer and specialist in fluid management and mechanisms, announced €566.5 million of sales for HY1 2019.
The continued growth should be compared with a 7% decline in global automotive production over the period, i.e. an outperformance of more than 10%.
Some facilities not sufficiently adapted to the business downturn recorded lower profitability. In the first half-year, the Group also maintained significant investments.
Lastly, continued pressure regarding raw materials and exchange rate effects led to an increase in some purchase prices over the period.
According to AKWEL, one of the company’s major highlights over the past half-year was that it hit its positive free cash flow target, which stands at €26.1 million vs.-€3.3 million in HY1 2018.
The AKWEL group’s net financial debt decreased significantly from €40.6 million to €27.5 million in HY1. Shareholders’ equity amounted to €478.5 million at 06.30.2019, vs. €454.0 million at 12.31.2018.
AKWEL now intends to focus more on boosting its profitability, specifically on improving industrial performance and the agility of facilities to keep resources more efficiently in line with business volume.
Discussion about this post