Nexteer Reports First Half 2020 Financial Results

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Aug 18, 2020, 06:30 ET

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Aug. 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Nexteer Automotive, a leader in intuitive motion control, today reported financial results for the six-month period ended June 30, 2020. Nexteer's financial results for the first half of 2020 were adversely impacted by actions mandated in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the suspension of production across the Company's entire global manufacturing footprint and related operations during the period. During the first half of 2020, global OEM production fell 33% when compared with the same period in 2019, with the second quarter of 2020 lower by 45% as the health crisis expanded to vast geographic regions across the globe and nations implemented measures to stem the spread of the disease.

Nexteer reported revenue of US$1.211 billion for the first six-months of 2020 which was lower by 33.9% compared with US$1.832 billion for the same period in 2019, reflecting significantly lower OEM customer demand and production suspensions as a result of the COVID-19 health crisis. Profit attributable to equity holders for the first six-months of 2020 fell to US$1.3 million compared with US$131.1 million for the same period in 2019, as cost actions provided only a partial offset to the dramatically lower demand environment.

During the first half of 2020, Nexteer continued to focus on delivering long-term profitable growth while navigating an unprecedented environment with the top priority of ensuring the health and welfare of our global teams during the COVID-19 pandemic, including:

Quickly responded to sudden and sharp declines in customer demand and government shelter-in-home mandates ensuring an orderly shutdown of our manufacturing and related operations across the globe, as well as implementing cost controls, investment controls and cash actions to ensure the on-going funding of the business
Enhanced our already strong employee health and safety protocols across all our global locations to ensure the well-being and productivity of our employees during the period of suspension and post restart of operations
Safely returned to production in all regions following the lift of mandated COVID-19 suspensions and shifting customer production requirements without any significant impact to our customers' operations
Implemented a comprehensive quality protection plan as a result of COVID-19 production suspensions and maintained product quality performance to pre-COVID record levels as our production facilities in all regions restarted operations

"The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact Nexteer in a multitude of ways – from implementing new health and safety protocols to protect our employees, to adjusting to new OEM sourcing and production launch timelines and more," said Guibin Zhao, CEO of Nexteer Automotive.

In the first half of 2020, Nexteer also continued its focus on operational excellence with the successful launch of 19 new customer vehicle programs across multiple product lines and regions – including 4 programs in North America, 11 in Asia Pacific and 4 in Europe, Middle East, Africa & South America.

"During the first half of 2020, we executed cost and investment controls to help mitigate the financial impact of the sudden industry-wide loss of OEM vehicle production and the shutdown of our facilities in every region we operate in. We are cautiously optimistic that the second half of 2020 will reflect a recovery in OEM vehicle production compared with the first half of the year," said Zhao. "Nexteer has a robust, proven technology and product portfolio to support industry megatrends like Electrification, Advanced Safety and Performance, Software and more and is well-positioned to support OEMs' priorities as the industry moves through these challenging times. As part of our thoughtful alignment with these megatrends, we are in-tune with many OEMs that have announced adjustments to their future mobility investments and priorities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic."

ABOUT NEXTEER
Nexteer Automotive (HK 1316), a global leader in intuitive motion control, is a multi-billion dollar global steering and driveline business delivering electric and hydraulic power steering systems, steering columns, driveline systems, as well as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and automated driving enabling technologies for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The company has 28 manufacturing plants, four technical and software centers and 13 customer service centers strategically located in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. The company serves more than 60 customers in every major region of the world including BMW, Fiat Chrysler, Ford, GM, PSA Groupe, Toyota and VW, as well as automakers in India and China. www.nexteer.com

SOURCE Nexteer Automotive