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Mar 31, 2023

Autoliv Q1 2023 Earnings Report

Achieved strong sales growth driven by product launches and price increases, outperforming LVP in all regions.

Key Takeaways

Autoliv reported strong sales growth in Q1 2023, with a 17% increase in net sales and a 21% increase in organic sales. The company outperformed global LVP growth by 15 percentage points, driven by new product launches and higher prices. Profitability was positively impacted by price increases, organic growth, and cost reduction activities, but operating cash flow decreased due to negative working capital effects from high sales growth.

Sales increased organically by 21%, outperforming global LVP growth of 6.1% due to new product launches and higher prices.

Profitability was positively impacted by price increases, organic growth, and cost reduction activities, with an adjusted operating margin of 5.3%.

Operating cash flow decreased to negative $46 million due to negative working capital effects from high sales growth.

Free cash flow decreased to negative $189 million due to increased capital expenditure for capacity expansions and footprint activities.

Total Revenue
$2.49B
Previous year: $2.12B
+17.4%
EPS
$0.9
Previous year: $0.45
+100.0%
Operating margin
5.1%
Previous year: 6.3%
-19.0%
Adjusted operating margin
5.3%
Previous year: 3.2%
+65.6%
Return on capital employed
13%
Gross Profit
$380M
Previous year: $289M
+31.5%
Cash and Equivalents
$713M
Previous year: $938M
-24.0%
Free Cash Flow
-$189M
Previous year: $53M
-456.6%
Total Assets
$8.19B
Previous year: $7.77B
+5.4%

Autoliv

Autoliv

Forward Guidance

Autoliv anticipates approximately 15% organic sales growth and around 8.5%-9.0% adjusted operating margin for the full year 2023, with operating cash flow around $900 million.

Positive Outlook

  • Around 15% organic sales growth
  • Achieve targeted cost compensation effects
  • Customer call-off volatility is reduced
  • Expecting a gradually improving adjusted operating margin
  • Deliver a significant full year increase in cash flow and adjusted operating income

Challenges Ahead

  • Around 1% negative FX effect on net sales
  • Global light vehicle production growth of around 3%
  • Cost pressures from labor, logistics, utilities and other items had a negative impact on our profitability.
  • Rising raw material costs amounted to around 0.5pp in operating margin headwind
  • Supply chain disruptions also led to low customer demand visibility and material changes to customer call-offs with short notice, which negatively impacted our production efficiency and profitability in the quarter.