By 2017, one year earlier than expected, car parts supplier MGI Coutier (Champfromier / France; www.mgicoutier.com) wants to crack the billion euro sales mark if the economy continues to boom as it did in the last financial year. The prospects for growth, especially with the blow-moulded tanks for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) in diesel vehicles, make the company confident that it will achieve this goal. In addition, MGI Coutier is planning further plants in Bulgaria and Thailand that are due to go on stream before the end of the year.

The operating result was clearly up in 2016, said financial officer Jean-Louis Thomasset, although no details are yet available. The company's indebtedness over the course of the year was reduced by a good EUR 40m to just EUR 13.4m, making it virtually debt-free.

Sales amounted to EUR 963.3m, equivalent to a rise of 12% compared with the previous year. Currency-related declines in countries such as Argentina, Sweden and Turkey were absorbed by the otherwise very strong business. Sales of SCR tanks, for example, were up 63% at EUR 162.1m, which was significantly above the already high expectations. The company's mould-making business also performed well, contributing EUR 33.8m.

Regionally speaking, the group, which is focused on media-carrying tubes and hoses, registered the strongest growth for its home market of France with an increase of 25% to EUR 386.4m. North America, with sales equivalent to EUR 230.9m, reported growth of 6.8%. Europe without France remained just about stable at EUR 234.8m. Only in South America and Asia were there significant declines of up 8.5% for the family-run company, although the volumes involved here are fairly small.