Spain’s Gestamp grows first-half revenues

Spain’s Gestamp is on course to meet 2018 financial performance targets following the first half of the year, the company says in its quarterly report monitored by Kallanish. Gestamp is a major supplier of components to the global automotive sector.

Rising revenue and Ebitda in H1 were mainly driven by higher sales in the Eastern European and Mercosur markets.

“Our positive performance was supported by the start-up of new projects in North America, Europe and Mercosur,” Gestamp confirms. “Nevertheless, revenues were partially offset by greater fluctuations in exchange rates. The H1 results are in line with our expectations and full year target.”

Gestamp has extended its production facilities, adding three new plants to its business. The company acquired a plant in Sorocaba, in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, and has started up operations at its Tianjin project in China. The Spanish supplier also signed a joint venture agreement with China’s Beijing Hainachuan Automotive Parts (BHAP) for hot stamping, as well as for automotive components and chassis production. The transaction is subject to approval from competition authorities.

During H1, Western European revenue decreased by -0.4% on-year to €2.13 billion ($2.48 billion), while in Eastern Europe it grew by 18.4% to €572.4 million. Mercosur sales rose 19.7% to to €306m. North America and Asia market sales were up by 0.8% and 2% respectively y-o-y to €757.6m and €506.5m.

Six-month net profit was up 16.5% to €135.6m. Ebitda was up 7.8% to €487.9m.