After a surprisingly small increase in sales, the headlight specialist Hella is turning the red pencil, especially in Europe. In the new year, the Lippstadt-based company expects global car production to stagnate and, due to a slower recovery in Europe, only a slight improvement in its own business. Europe is the auto supplier’s region with the lowest profitability, said Hella boss Bernard Schäferbarthold in a conference with analysts on Friday. He now wants to get his hands on the production network and use research and development spending more efficiently.
The Hella share listed in the MDax temporarily fell by around 4 percent to 77.70 euros in the morning, making it cheaper than it has been since November. Most recently, its price was still half a percent in the red. The price has fluctuated in a corridor of 80 to 85 euros since mid-December.
Boss Schäferbarthold expects the market recovery to weaken this year, especially in Europe. Global car production is expected to stagnate at around 90 million cars and light commercial vehicles for the year as a whole.
Management is expecting a slight improvement in its own business figures compared to the previous year. Currency and portfolio-adjusted sales are expected to be between 8.1 and 8.6 billion euros, and the operating margin is expected to be between 6.0 and 7.0 percent. Experts had expected more in terms of margin, and their average estimate for sales is also in the upper range.
Relocation of production
A savings program is now intended to reduce costs by a gross amount of 400 million euros by the end of 2028. This should reach 150 million by the end of 2025. Schäferbarthold estimated the net savings effect to be around 200 million euros. Some products are to be manufactured at lower-cost locations that still have the capacity to do so. To achieve this, capacity will be reduced at other locations.
Hella expects total expenditure of around 200 million euros for the savings program. Schäferbarthold did not yet want to give details about possible job cuts; these would be worked out in the coming months. The program should be designed as socially responsible as possible.
Competitors are also stumbling
The industry as a whole is fighting the slump by cutting costs. The auto supplier Continental had its already announced savings program in the middle of the week clarified: Around 7,150 jobs will be eliminated worldwide in administration and research and development. Also ZF is looking for a way out of the electric trap with a savings program
.
The prospects for the auto industry in Europe have deteriorated drastically, said Schäferbarthold. For 2025, estimates for car production would be almost 30 percent lower than before the Covid-19 pandemic. By 2030, the European market is expected to stagnate at a level of around 17 million vehicles.
Sluggish sales of electric cars
This year there will be sluggish sales of electric cars. These would affect the Westphalian electronics division. The overall competitive and cost pressure is increasing due to the growing market shares of Chinese car manufacturers and the entry of Chinese suppliers into the market. The German car industry screwed up the switch to electric, how extensive mm research shows
. The cars of Volkswagen etc. are too expensive compared to the competition, and German manufacturers are no longer the undisputed best in the car industry, as in the combustion engine world.
According to preliminary figures, Hella achieved a sales increase of 10.3 percent to 8.0 billion euros last year. On average, analysts expected more. According to Schäferbarthold, there was less sales in the fourth quarter than management itself had expected. Model changes among car manufacturers and weaker demand for electric cars had a negative impact.
The operating result improved by 65 percent to 486 million euros in 2023 compared to the weak previous year. As experts expected, the corresponding margin was 2 percentage points higher than the year before at 6.1 percent.
Hella has been part of the French automotive supplier Forvia (formerly Faurecia) since the beginning of 2022. He holds almost 82 percent of the listed shares in the company, which was recently valued at around nine billion euros. The one from the US billionaire Paul Singer (79) controlled hedge fund Elliott holds almost 10 percent of the shares directly; He has access to a further 5 percent via financial instruments. Hella will present detailed financial figures on March 15th.