Plastic Omnium reports strong first-half growth, but profits fall 4%

Plastic Omnium said it anticipates price battles among automakers as they deal with a slowdown in electric-vehicle orders, particularly in Europe, which will result in customers adopting a more aggressive pricing policy than in recent quarters. The French supplier on Monday reported a 35 percent increase in revenue for the first half but said net income fell 4 percent to 100 million euros ($111 million) on revenue of 5.8 billion euros ($6.4 billion).

Revenue surged 40 percent in Europe to 3.0 billion euros ($3.3 billion). In North America, revenue grew 26 percent to 1.6 billion euros ($1.7 billion). The company confirmed its annual objectives, buoyed by a new record of orders over the past six months. Automakers will have no choice but to follow a trend of lowering prices if they want to maintain the necessary volumes, CEO Laurent Favre said.

Chinese automakers and U.S. company Tesla, known for their competitive pricing, continue to perform well with high volumes, Favre said. “We are fortunate to work with everyone, which means we also work with those who export,” Favre said. “If they are the ones selling cars in Europe, we produce in China for them, and we are very pragmatic.”

The company, which specializes in producing automotive components such as bumpers and fuel tanks, is also diversifying into hydrogen and lighting technologies. Plastic Omnium ranks No. 30 on the Automotive News list of the top 100 global suppliers with worldwide sales to automakers of $9.7 billion in 2022.