French supplier Plastic Omnium (PO, Levallois; www.plasticomnium.com) has cushioned the impact of the automotive crisis with the help of acquisitions, new plants and restructuring. In the first half of 2019, revenue (excluding JVs) grew 21% to EUR 4.61 bn, primarily through the consolidation of German front-end module supplier HBPO (Lippstadt; www.hbpogroup.com). Excluding this effect, sales remained largely stable. EBITDA has meanwhile seen a 12% increase at EUR 511m after the French company introduced various measures to cut costs. Nevertheless, net income dropped by a third to EUR 155m.

Business in Europe and North Africa accounted for EUR 2.49 bn of total sales. Excluding HBPO, the company felt the effects of the declining markets of Germany (down 11%) and the UK (down 20%), which account for 16% and 5%, respectively, of total turnover. The impact was lessened by the strong demand for add-on parts for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) for diesel vehicles and the positive development of sales in France and Eastern Europe. As regards the other regions, North America accounted for EUR 1.31 bn of sales, China for EUR 385m, the rest of Asia for EUR 343m and South America for EUR 82m.

Despite the cost cuts, Plastic Omnium opened three new production sites during the period under report, namely in Hlohovec / Slovakia, Bhamboli, Maharashtra / India and Kenitro / Morocco as well as two assembly sites in Saltillo / Mexico and Vaihingen / Germany. On 18 June, the company also opened an R&D centre for fuel systems in Wuhan, Hubei / China, and at the beginning of July, came the start-up of another development centre in the Belgian capital of Brussels. Overall, Plastic Omnium made investments of EUR 308m in the first half of 2019.

In the second half of this year, the company intends to put its foot on the brake, particularly as no further plant openings are scheduled. In addition, commercial real estate assets are to be sold to another subsidiary of the majority owner Burelle, which in turn increased its PO stake by 3.2% to 58.8%. Plastic Omnium does not expect global car production to recover before 2020 or 2021.