Press release
Q2 2019: Navigating through challenging conditions
Financial highlights Q2 2019
$2,155m consolidated sales
1.5% organic sales growth*
7.9% operating margin
8.5% adj. operating margin*
$1.25 EPS - a decline of 43%
$1.38 adj. EPS* - a decline of 38%
Full Year 2019 indications
1% to 3% organic sales growth
(1)% to 1% consolidated sales growth
9.0% to 9.5% adj. operating margin
Key business developments in the second quarter of 2019
- Organic growth outperformed global light vehicle production by 9.1pp mainly due to Americas and China.Key business developments in the second quarter of 2019
- Profitability continued to be impacted by severe global LVP decline and high raw material costs.
- Accelerated cost improvement actions. Total workforce declined by 1,208 in the quarter, mainly direct labor. Initiated actions to reduce indirect headcount by about 5%. Additional restructuring measures are being evaluated.
- *For non-U.S. GAAP measures see enclosed reconciliation tables. All figures herein refer to continued operations, excluding former Electronics segment, unless stated otherwise. All change figures in this document compare to the same period of previous year, except when stated otherwise.
Key Figures
| (Dollars in millions, except per share data) | Q2 2019 | Q2 2018 | Change | H1 2019 | H1 2018 | Change |
| Net sales | $2,155 | $2,212 | (2.6)% | $4,329 | $4,452 | (2.8)% |
| Operating income | $170 | $229 | (26)% | $343 | $473 | (28)% |
| Adjusted operating income[1] | $183 | $230 | (20)% | $350 | $475 | (26)% |
| Adjusted operating margin[1] | 8.5% | 10.4% | (1.9)pp | 8.1% | 10.7% | (2.6)pp |
| Earnings per share, diluted[2], [3] | $1.25 | $2.20 | (43)% | $2.52 | $4.02 | (37)% |
| Adjusted earnings per share, diluted[1], [2], [3] | $1.38 | $2.22 | (38)% | $2.57 | $4.04 | (36)% |
| Operating cash flow[4] | $(21) | $201 | (110)% | $133 | $282 | (53)% |
| Return on capital employed[5] | 18.3% | 21.2% | (2.9)pp | 18.9% | 21.5% | (2.6)pp |
| [1] Excluding costs for capacity alignment and antitrust related matters. [2] Assuming dilution and net of treasury shares. [3] Participating share awards with right to receive dividend equivalents are (under the two-class method) excluded from the EPS calculation. [4] For Q2 2018 and H1 2018 management estimate for Continuing Operations derived from cash flow including Discontinued Operations. [5] Operating income and income from equity method investments, relative to average capital employed. | ||||||
Comments from Mikael Bratt, President & CEO
We experienced another challenging quarter dominated by severe weakness in global light vehicle markets and high raw material costs with reduced profitability as a consequence. The uncertainty remains high in a falling market and we currently do not see any signs of a turnaround in light vehicle demand. Therefore we now indicate a lower full year 2019 sales and profitability.
As market weakness has continued in the second quarter, we have stepped up the cost improvement actions, including targeting a reduction of our indirect workforce by approximately 5% and implementing a sharpened purchasing process. We already see effects from our current cost reduction actions, with total headcount declining by around 1,200 in the second quarter and launch related costs continuing to decline vs. the first quarter.
I am generally pleased with how we managed the sharp decline in global LVP by the cost reduction actions we implemented and are planning. Furthermore, I see both room and need for additional improvements in certain areas.
Our sales continued to develop significantly better than LVP, with organic growth* outperforming LVP in all regions except Japan, where we expect outperformance to begin later in the year. In North America and China, our organic growth was 14pp higher than LVP growth, while it was 9pp above global LVP growth.
Order intake continued on a good level, securing a strong order book and a prolonged outperformance vs. LVP.
In addition to our near term focused cost reduction actions, we have accelerated our efforts on building the foundation for improving the entire value chain. This includes increased flexible automation, digitalization and R,D&E efficiency.
We are well positioned to navigate through significant challenges from LVP volatility and geopolitical uncertainty by forcefully implementing necessary near-term cost reductions and investing for longer term margin improvement, while as always having quality as our first priority.
Conference call and webcast
An earnings conference call will be held at 2:00 p.m. CET today, July 19, 2019. Information regarding how to participate is available on www.autoliv.com. The presentation slides for the conference call will be available on our website shortly after the publication of this financial report.
Inquiries: Investors and Analysts
Anders Trapp
Vice President Investor Relations
Tel +46 (0)8 58 72 06 71
Henrik Kaar
Director Investor Relations
Tel +46 (0)8 58 72 06 14
Inquiries: Media
Stina Thorman
Vice President Communications
Tel +46 (0)8 58 72 06 50
This information is information that Autoliv, Inc. is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the VP of Investor Relations set out above, at 12.00 CET on July 19, 2019.