KSPG AG targets 8% growth in 2015

Global automotive industry supplier KSPG AG, a member of the Rheinmetall Group of Germany, expects added sales and another improvement in operating result for the current fiscal year.

Horst Binnig, CEO of the Neckarsulm-based Group, says: "We achieved a record result in 2014 and this year, besides again bolstering our organic growth, our focus will be on additionally enhancing our operating performance."

With a product lineup aligned to the global trend toward eco-friendly mobility, the Group, which has a footprint in all the key global auto markets, has reported dynamic growth for fiscal 2014. At €2,448 million, sales were up 8 percent over the previous year's €2,262 million.

KSPG's growth rate for the period is well ahead of the around 3-percent gain in global automobile production for 2014. In Europe, which is still the Group's most significant market, sales were up by 9 percent.

The operating result for fiscal 2014 amounted to a record €184 million, an improvement of €26 million or 17 percent over 2013. The operating result margin thus rose from 7.0 to 7.5 percent.

With sales up 13 percent, the Mechatronics division was the prime growth driver with products such as electric pumps and exhaust-gas recirculation systems needed in order to arrive at the regulatory emission restrictions. The Hardparts division achieved double-digit growth at its Chinese joint ventures and together with its partner SAIC, is China's biggest producer of car engine pistons and cylinder heads.

The Group’s Chinese 50/50 joint ventures posted solid progress, their sales surging 26 percent to €628 million. The wholly owned subsidiaries in China also showed dynamic growth, their sales in fiscal 2014 almost doubling from €29 million to €53 million. During the period, automobile production in China advanced 9 percent.

For 2015, experts are currently expecting international automobile production to increase by around 2.5 percent. Based on this assumption, the KSPG  Group is looking to post annual sales of between €2.5 billion and €2.6 billion and is targeting an operating result margin of 8 percent.