By Mathias de Rozario and Jerome Terroy
(Reuters) -French car parts supplier OPmobility reported a 1% fall in third-year revenue on Wednesday, impacted by negative currency effects and temporary shutdowns of some clients’ plants in Europe.
The group’s revenue came in at 2.72 billion euros ($3.17 billion) for the third quarter of the year, down from 2.75 billion euros a year earlier.
Shares in OPmobility fell as much as 4% in early trade.
The revenue included a 95 million euros impact from negative currency conditions linked to the weaker dollar, CEO Laurent Favre said in a call with reporters.
Excluding one off items and at constant exchange rates, revenue was up 2.6% on the quarter.
“OPmobility achieved the feat of growing in line with Chinese production during the quarter,” Midcap Partners analysts say, differing from its French peer Forvia, penalised by the region in its Monday results.
Growth in North America and Asia only partially offset their slowdown in Europe where one of its key client Jaguar Land Rover stopped its production after a cyberattack.
“Given that we manufacture almost all their bodywork parts and tanks, it affected us, so it’s about 30 to 40 million euros in revenue that we lost for the month of September,” Favre said.
To compensate for the weakness of the European market, OPmobility has expanded its businesses in growing markets.
The company is now focusing on expending its presence in North America, and Asia and diversifying its consumer base to lead growth, Favre said.
Earlier this month, it signed a letter of intent for global partnership with Chinese car marker Chery and signed two contracts to provide the car maker with bumpers in Spain and Brazil.
“We’ll end the year with an order intake well above our revenue,” Favre said.
The group also confirmed its outlook for 2025.
($1 = 0.8575 euros)
(Reporting by Mathias de Rozario and Jérôme Terroy in Gdansk, additional reporting from Gilles Guillaume in Paris; Editing by Matt Scuffham)
