Visteon Announces First-Quarter 2018 Results

View the first-quarter 2018 financial summary infographic

Visteon Announces First-Quarter 2018 Results

Delivered solid financial performance

Sales of $814 million
Net income of $65 million
Adjusted EBITDA of $104 million
Net cash generated from operating activities of $81 million
Adjusted free cash flow of $48 million

Awarded $1.6 billion in new business

Multiple SmartCore™ awards worth more than $500 million
Order backlog increased to record $20.1 billion

Executed $200 million of share repurchase agreements

VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich., April 26, 2018 — Visteon Corporation (NASDAQ: VC) today announced first-quarter 2018 results, reporting sales of $814 million, compared with $810 million in the first quarter of 2017. First-quarter net income attributable to Visteon was $65 million or $2.11 per diluted share for 2018, compared with $63 million or $1.91 per diluted share for 2017. 

Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure as defined below, was $104 million for the first quarter, compared with $101 million in the same period last year. Adjusted net income, a non-GAAP financial measure as defined below, was $64 million for the first quarter or $2.08 per diluted share, compared with $57 million or $1.73 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2017. 

During the first quarter, global vehicle manufacturers awarded Visteon new business of $1.6 billion in lifetime revenue. The ongoing backlog, defined as cumulative remaining life-of-program booked sales, was $20.1 billion as of March 31, 2018, up from $19.4 billion at the end of 2017.

“Our strong first-quarter results provided a solid start to 2018, as we achieved year-over-year improvements in sales, adjusted EBITDA, new business wins and free cash flow,” said Visteon President and CEO Sachin Lawande. “Despite softness in global vehicle production volumes in the quarter, we recorded our 13th consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth in adjusted EBITDA margin.”

Lawande added:  “We were very pleased with multiple SmartCore™ wins – including an award from Geely Auto for its next-generation new energy vehicle platform – as well as an Automotive News PACE Award for technology innovation. With the market transitioning toward electronic control unit consolidation, Visteon is in a very good position to continue to capitalize on this trend as the leader in cockpit domain controller solutions.”

First Quarter in Review

Sales totaled $814 million and $810 million during the first quarter of 2018 and 2017, respectively, for an increase of $4 million. Sales increased in Asia, driven by new product launches, offset by a decrease in sales in the Americas, primarily reflecting lower production volumes. On a regional basis, Asia accounted for 39 percent of sales, Europe 33 percent, and the Americas 28 percent.

Gross margin for the first quarter of 2018 was $129 million, consistent with $129 million a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA was $104 million for the first quarter of 2018, compared with $101 million for the same quarter last year. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 12.8 percent for the first quarter of 2018, 30 basis points higher than the prior year.

Gross margin and adjusted EBITDA were impacted by favorable currency and a positive business equation, partially offset by lower production volumes and product mix. Business equation is defined as cost performance net of customer pricing.

For the first quarter of 2018, net income was $65 million or $2.11 per diluted share, compared with net income of $63 million or $1.91 per diluted share for the same period in 2017. First-quarter 2018 net income included a $17 million benefit in connection with a legal settlement. This benefit was partially offset by an increase in restructuring charges of $4 million and income taxes of $5 million. Additionally, 2017 discontinued operations, net of tax, included a gain of $7 million associated with the repurchase of the India operations. Adjusted net income, which excludes restructuring charges and discontinued operations, was $64 million or $2.08 per diluted share for the first quarter of 2018, compared with $57 million or $1.73 per diluted share for the same period in 2017.

Cash and Debt Balances

As of March 31, 2018, Visteon had total cash of $526 million. Total debt as of March 31, 2018, was $382 million.

For the first quarter of 2018, cash from operations was $81 million, and capital expenditures were $44 million. Total Visteon adjusted free cash flow, a non-GAAP financial measure as defined below, for the first quarter of 2018 was $48 million, compared with a use of $31 million during the first quarter of 2017, driven by improved receivables performance. 

Share Repurchases

During the first quarter of 2018, the company executed agreements to purchase $200 million of shares. 

The company paid $50 million to repurchase 410,325 shares at an average price of $121.85 through various programs with third-party financial institutions.

Additionally, on March 6, 2018, Visteon entered into an Accelerated Share Buyback (ASB) program with a third-party financial institution to purchase shares of its common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $150 million. At inception of the program, Visteon received an initial delivery of 988,386 shares, which represents 80 percent of the shares to be delivered, using a reference price of $121.41. The ASB is expected to conclude no later than the third quarter of 2018. Visteon is authorized to purchase an additional $500 million through Dec. 31, 2020, under the Board of Directors’ Jan. 15, 2018, resolution.

As of March 31, 2018, the company had 29.8 million diluted shares of common stock outstanding.

About Visteon

Visteon is a global technology company that designs, engineers and manufactures innovative cockpit electronics products and connected car solutions for most of the world’s major vehicle manufacturers. Visteon is a leading provider of instrument clusters, head-up displays, information displays, infotainment, audio systems, SmartCore™ cockpit domain controllers, vehicle connectivity, and the DriveCore™ autonomous driving platform. Visteon also supplies embedded multimedia and smartphone connectivity software solutions to the global automotive industry. Headquartered in Van Buren Township, Michigan, Visteon has approximately 10,000 employees at more than 40 facilities in 18 countries. Visteon had sales of $3.15 billion in 2017. Learn more at www.visteon.com.

Conference Call and Presentation

Today, Thursday, April 26, 2018, at 9 a.m. ET, the company will host a conference call for the investment community to discuss the quarter’s results and other related items. The conference call is available to the general public via a live audio webcast.

The dial-in numbers to participate in the call are:

U.S./Canada: 866-411-5196Outside U.S./Canada: 970-297-2404

(Call approximately 10 minutes before the start of the conference.)

The conference call and live audio webcast, related presentation materials and other supplemental information will be accessible in the investors section of Visteon’s website. A news release on Visteon’s first-quarter results will be available in the news section of the website.

A replay of the conference call will be available through the company’s website or by dialing855-859-2056 (toll-free from the U.S. and Canada) or 404-537-3406 (international). The conference ID for the phone replay is 9090348. The phone replay will be available for one week following the conference call.

View the first-quarter 2018 results

Forward-looking InformationThis press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and conditions but rather are subject to various factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to: (1) conditions within the automotive industry, including (i) the automotive vehicle production volumes and schedules of our customers, (ii) the financial condition of our customers and the effects of any restructuring or reorganization plans that may be undertaken by our customers or suppliers, including work stoppages, and (iii) possible disruptions in the supply of commodities to us or our customers due to financial distress, work stoppages, natural disasters or civil unrest; (2) our ability to satisfy future capital and liquidity requirements; including our ability to access the credit and capital markets at the times and in the amounts needed and on terms acceptable to us; our ability to comply with financial and other covenants in our credit agreements; and the continuation of acceptable supplier payment terms; (3) our ability to satisfy pension and other post-employment benefit obligations; (4) our ability to access funds generated by foreign subsidiaries and joint ventures on a timely and cost-effective basis; (5) our ability to execute on our transformational plans and cost-reduction initiatives in the amounts and on the timing contemplated; (6) general economic conditions, including changes in interest rates, currency exchange rates and fuel prices; (7) the timing and expenses related to internal restructurings, employee reductions, acquisitions or dispositions and the effect of pension and other post-employment benefit obligations; (8) increases in raw material and energy costs and our ability to offset or recover these costs, increases in our warranty, product liability and recall costs or the outcome of legal or regulatory proceedings to which we are or may become a party; and (9) those factors identified in our filings with the SEC (including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2017).

Caution should be taken not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements, which represent our view only as of the date of this release, and which we assume no obligation to update. The financial results presented herein are preliminary and unaudited; final financial results will be included in the company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2018. New business wins and rewins do not represent firm orders or firm commitments from customers, but are based on various assumptions, including the timing and duration of product launches, vehicle production levels, customer price reductions and currency exchange rates.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial InformationThis press release contains information about Visteon’s financial results which is not presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”). Such non-GAAP financial measures are reconciled to their closest GAAP financial measures at the end of this press release. The provision of these comparable GAAP financial measures for 2018 is not intended to indicate that Visteon is explicitly or implicitly providing projections on those GAAP financial measures, and actual results for such measures are likely to vary from those presented. The reconciliations include all information reasonably available to the company at the date of this press release and the adjustments that management can reasonably predict.

Follow Visteon:

Contacts:

Media:

Jim Fisher734-710-5557734-417-6184 – mobilejfishe89@visteon.com

Investors:

Bill Robertson734-710-8349william.robertson@visteon.com