Autoliv Q1 2024 Earnings Report
Key Takeaways
Autoliv reported record first quarter sales with a 5% organic sales growth, outperforming global LVP decline by 6pp. Profitability improved substantially, driven by organic growth and cost reduction activities. Strong cash flow improvement was also achieved.
Record first quarter sales, increased organically by 5%, which was 6pp better than global LVP decline of 1%.
Profitability improved substantially, driven mainly by organic growth and cost reduction activities; operating margin was 7.4%.
Operating cash flow improved by $168 million and free cash flow improved by $171 million.
Leverage ratio of 1.3x was close to unchanged compared to three months earlier and 0.3x lower than a year earlier despite returning $0.7 billion to shareholders.
Autoliv
Autoliv
Forward Guidance
Full year 2024 guidance is mainly based on customer call-offs, a full year 2024 global LVP decline of around 1%, the achievement of targeted cost compensation effects, and a sustained reduction in customer call-off volatility.
Positive Outlook
- Around 5% organic sales growth
- Around 0% FX effect on net sales
- Around 10.5% adjusted operating margin
- Around $1.2 billion operating cash flow
- Expecting seasonality of past years to likely continue in 2024, with a gradual improvement throughout the year.
Challenges Ahead
- Global LVP decline of around 1%
- Facing inflationary pressure again this year
- Continued cost pressure from inflation relating mainly to labor, especially in Europe and the Americas.
- Some OEMs changing certain vehicle model launch plans, mainly for EV platforms.
- Customer demand visibility and changes to customer call-offs with short notice still had a negative impact on our production efficiency and profitability in the quarter.