Autoliv - Financial Report January - March 2018

STOCKHOLM, April 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

For the three-month period ended March 31, 2018, Autoliv, Inc. (NYSE: ALV and SSE: ALIV.Sdb), the worldwide leader in automotive safety systems, reported record sales of $2,813 million, an increase of 7.8% compared to the first quarter 2017, and record gross profit of $579 million. Quarterly organic sales* grew by 0.1%. The operating margin was 8.0% and the adjusted operating margin* was 8.8% (for non-U.S. GAAP measures see enclosed reconciliation tables).

The expectation at the beginning of the quarter was for quarterly organic sales growth to be "less than 1%" and an adjusted operating margin to be "around 9%".

For full year 2018, we repeat the segment indications from our fourth quarter 2017 report. For the Passive Safety segment, the indication for organic sales growth is more than 10% for the full year 2018, with indication that the underlying segment profitability will increase compared to full year 2017. For the Electronics segment, the indication is for organic sales growth to be around negative 3% for the full year, with the indication that the underlying segment profitability will decrease compared to full year 2017. (See the "Outlook" section on the next page for further discussion of organic sales and adjusted operating margin, which are forward-looking non-U.S. GAAP measures).
 
Key Figures
For Key Figures summary table, please refer to attached file below.
 
Comments from Jan Carlson, Chairman, President & CEO    
"The first quarter 2018 was a solid quarter with record sales and record gross profit. Adjusted operating margin* was in line with guidance and I am pleased that it improved year-over-year for the second consecutive quarter. Operating cash flow is seasonally lower in the 1st quarter but the quarter was also effected by unfavorable timing effects. On a full year basis, excluding separation effects, we expect operating cash flow to be on the same level as last year.
 
Our planned spin-off of the Electronics segment is on track with trading in Veoneer stock expected to begin early in the third quarter of 2018. The leadership positions were announced on March 22, the internal operational separation of the two organizations was achieved on April 1, and Veoneer publicly filed its Form-10 registration statement with the SEC on April 26. We also announced Investor Days to be held in Stockholm and New York in late May and early June, respectively.
 
As we execute on our plans for the spin-off, we remain focused on our business development. We have good momentum in Active Safety, with both stronger than expected core Active Safety sales growth and a milestone ADAS order from Geely, which includes Zenuity software. Recent events in the ADAS and AD environment are a reminder of the importance of system validations and to always focus on having safety first in mind.
 
The product launches in Passive Safety are generally on track and its order intake continued to be on a high level in the quarter. This and our expectation of double digit sales growth in 2018 for Passive Safety supports the journey towards the 2020 targets.
 
With quality as our first priority, as always, we continue to execute on our spin-off plan while staying focused on saving more lives and creating value for our stakeholders." 
 
An earnings conference call will be held at 2:00 p.m. (CET) today, April 27. To follow the webcast or to obtain the pin code and phone number, please access www.autoliv.com. The conference slides will be available on our web site as soon as possible following the publication of this earnings report.
   
Inquiries: Investors and Analysts
Anders Trapp
Vice President Investor Relations
Tel +46(0)8-58-72-06-71

Inquiries: Media
Thomas Jönsson
Group Vice President Corporate Communications
Tel +46(0)8-58-72-06-27

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 April 27, 2018.

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SOURCE Autoliv