Auto supplier Mahle
The Stuttgart-based company is profitable again after the corona crisis.
(Photo: dpa)
Stuttgart Mahle interim boss Michael Frick is particularly proud of one fact: “No production line had to stop at our customers because Mahle components were missing,” said Frick when the Stuttgart supplier presented the half-year figures. This sets Mahle apart from competitors such as Bosch, Continental and Hella. Due to the lack of semiconductors, they are not able to deliver at all times, which is forcing car manufacturers around the world to stop production.
Otherwise, however, the transformation of the automotive industry is just as challenging to Mahle as it is to all other automotive suppliers. The supplier has already cut 8,000 jobs since 2018. A further downsizing, especially in Germany, is very likely, as Labor Director Anke Felder explained.
“Our focus remains on profitability and increasing competitiveness. That is why further structural adjustments and capacity reductions will be necessary, ”said Felder at the annual press conference. Mahle CEO Frick, who has replaced Jörg Stratmann, who has surprisingly resigned since March, did not want to reveal how large these adjustments will be. The scope cannot yet be quantified.
Overall, thanks to the austerity program and the global recovery in the auto markets, Mahle can present solid half-year figures. Compared to the previous year, sales increased by 32 percent to 5.7 billion euros. The operating result (EBIT) rose from a minus of 146 million euros in the previous year to a plus of 201 million euros, which corresponds to an EBIT margin of 3.5 percent.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and be notified by email.
Around half of sales are still dependent on the combustion engine. Frick believes that Mahle is well on the way to changing this. The supplier is preparing for the expected wave of consolidation in the combustion engine business. “We will try to play an active role here as consolidators,” says Frick. Means: Mahle wants to earn money with the fossil fuel business as long as possible. According to Frick, it is essential to reduce production costs as much as possible.
“To be successful in a declining market, you need a position of cost leadership,” says the Mahle CEO. “With our current strategy, we are reducing production costs in the combustion area. We will accelerate this logic in the next ten years. ”
New cooling system should accelerate the charge
On the other hand, the profits from the combustion engine business are to be used to finance the company’s own transformation. According to Frick, numerous suppliers in the field of electromobility are currently expanding their range of products and expanding their range of products. “Mahle is also striving to deepen its activities in electromobility,” he says.
Mahle has great hopes for a new type of cooling method. With the help of so-called “immersion cooling”, in which the cells of the battery, the electrical lines and all connecting elements are cooled with a non-conductive cooling liquid, Mahle can significantly accelerate the charging of the battery without affecting the service life of the cells. Mahle technical director Martin Berger speaks of “charging in a few minutes”. The first series vehicles are to be equipped with the special cooling system in 2025.
To accelerate the transformation, Mahle had also considered taking over Hella. The MDax group, which was ultimately sold to the French competitor Faurecia, could have brought Mahle a big step forward in the field of future technologies, according to industry representatives. Now there is hope of at least winning the bidding competition for the South Korean air conditioning specialist Hanon Systems. Mahle is offering around 4.9 billion euros for this.
Financially, the takeover would be a major feat for Mahle. This year the supplier was able to issue a bond with an official rating with a volume of 750 million euros for the first time. But Mahle still has debts of 920 million euros.
Looking at the year as a whole, Frick remains cautious. The good figures for the first half of the year would give cause for optimism. “Still, they are no reason for euphoria,” says Frick. The Mahle CEO expects the shortage of raw materials and the scarcity of chips to have a greater impact on operational business in the second half of the year than in the first six months of the financial year.
More: The state support for the auto suppliers will bring nothing