Autoliv reports Q4 adjusted EPS $3.74, consensus $3.27

Reports Q4 revenue $2.75B, consensus $2.75B. Mikael Bratt, President & CEO, said: “As we indicated throughout the year, we finished 2023 strong. We achieved or exceeded all of our 2023 indications. Sales and adjusted operating income hit new records while operating cash flow remained strong. I am pleased that gross margin improved substantially. 2023 order intake was the highest in the past five years, supporting our around 45% market share position, with a good mix of new and traditional OEMs as well as EV and ICE platforms. We increased shareholder returns to more than $200 million in the quarter while continuing to improve our leverage ratio. As of the end of 2023, we have repurchased shares close to $0.5B under our existing $1.5B repurchase program. We outperformed LVP in all regions except China, which had a very strong LVP growth for domestic OEMs with typically lower safety content. We strengthened our market position in China and our order intake was strong in the rapidly changing market, where domestic OEMs are now the drivers behind LVP development. We continue to deliver on our structural cost reductions, with around 75% of the planned indirect workforce reductions detailed and announced. We also see positive effects on direct labor productivity. Our 2023 performance developed very much as we indicated with heavy cost headwinds early in the year, which led to a weak Q1 2023. However, quarter-by-quarter, our performance improved, driven by customer recoveries, efficiencies, and organic growth leading to a substantial full year profitability improvement. Our sustainability agenda is yielding results with good progress in GHG emissions, renewable electricity use and incident rate. The seasonality of past years is likely to be repeated in 2024, with an expected Q1 adjusted operating margin of around 7%, followed by gradual quarterly improvements, leading to a full year 2024 adjusted operating margin of around 10.5%. Key drivers for the full year margin progression are continued improvement in call-off stability, outgrowing LVP and benefits from strategic and structural initiatives. The improving results we expect in 2024 should take us one important step closer to our target of around 12% adjusted operating margin.”