Financial Report January - March 2012
Full year performance on track
Progress in U.S. antitrust investigation
(Stockholm, April 27, 2012) – – – For the three-month period ended March 31, 2012, Autoliv Inc. (NYSE: ALV and SSE: ALIV) – the worldwide leader in automotive safety systems – reported record quarterly sales of $2,179 million - an increase of 3% - and an operating margin of 7.0%, including a $14.5 million accrual for the estimated fines to resolve the U.S. antitrust investigation. Excluding costs related to capacity alignments and the ongoing antitrust investigations, operating margin amounted to 10.0% compared to “around 10%” expected at the beginning of the quarter (non-U.S. GAAP measure, see enclosed reconciliation table).
Organic sales grew at a rate of 5%, as expected.
Operating income declined by $102 million to $153 million, primarily due to higher costs for capacity alignments, raw materials and R,D&E expenses, in addition to the antitrust accrual.
Income before taxes amounted to $141 million, net income to $101 million and earnings per share assuming dilution to $1.07.
Cash flow from operations amounted to $98 million and to $19 million before financing.
The indication for the full year 2012 is that organic sales are expected to grow by approximately 7% and consolidated sales by 4%. The guidance for the second quarter is an increase in consolidated sales of around 3% and approximately 7% for organic sales. The operating margin indication remains unchanged at 10-11% for the full year, while the guidance for the second quarter is an operating margin of more than 9%. This margin indication and guidance excludes costs for capacity alignments and the antitrust investigations and imply a stronger second half of the year, with a margin of around 11%.
An earnings conference call will be held at 2:30 p.m. (CET) today, April 27. To follow the webcast or to obtain pin code and phone number, please access www.autoliv.com. The conference slides will be available on our web site as soon as possible following the publication of this earnings report.