Hella starts fiscal year 2024 with slight sales growth

Hella has made a solid start to the new fiscal year 2024. Group sales in the first quarter 2024 amounted to 2.0 billion Euro. This corresponds to currency-adjusted growth of 2.2 percent; reported sales increased by 0.6 percent.

Bernard Schäferbarthold, CEO of Forvia Hella: “We assume that the automotive market will only stagnate in 2024. The industry development in the first quarter confirms this assumption. The start to the new fiscal year is therefore in line with our expectations. We expect the planned series launches and production ramp-ups for example for headlamps, including SSL | HD, as well as for radar sensors and energy management to further support our sales development over the course of the year.”

Sales development in the first three months was primarily driven by growth in the Lighting business group. This increased sales by 4.9 percent to €1,002 million (previous year: €955 million). This is largely due to the full consolidation of the Chinese joint venture Beijing Hella BHAP Automotive Lighting since this fiscal year, after its shareholders agreed on the continuation and strategic development of the joint venture. The business group’s development was additionally supported by business with manufacturers of electric vehicles in Asia and America as well as by production launches in the Americas.

In the Electronics business group, sales fell by 3.4 percent to €813 million (previous year: €842 million). The radar business in Electronics in particular continued to develop positively overall. In contrast, however, customer mix effects in Asia and Europe, a slower ramp-up of electromobility in Europe at the beginning of the year and, in some cases, delayed series launches had a negative impact on the business group’s sales performance.

In the Lifecycle Solutions business group, sales decreased slightly by 1.7 percent to €278 million (previous year: €283 million). The independent aftermarket business in Europe in particular developed positively, including in the countries United Kingdom, Poland and Turkey. However, the business group’s sales development was impacted by an increasing reluctance to invest in the commercial vehicle sector and the exceptional economic situation in the previous year following the market launch of a new particle counter in the workshop business.