By Mathias de Rozario
(Reuters) -French auto parts supplier OPMobility posted higher third-quarter revenue on Monday, boosted by sales at its modules and exteriors units.
Its shares rose 11% by 0800 GMT, making it the biggest gainer on France’s SBF120 index.
The group’s consolidated revenue, the only metric it published for the three months to end-September, rose to 2.46 billion euros ($2.65 billion) from 2.39 billion euros a year ago.
It pointed to S&P Global Mobility forecasts published in October which showed it outperformed a global automotive market production decline of 4.8% by 9.5 percentage points.
After winning new contracts in Europe, the United States and China over the last three years, CEO Laurent Favre, on a call with journalists, said that the group’s order backlog was the highest in its history, which was beginning to generate revenue growth.
OPMobility’s North American activities drove the rise in third quarter revenue, while sales in Europe were higher than in the group’s weaker local market.
This confirms that the United States has become the company’s leading market, Favre said, adding that its geographical diversification was a factor in its outperformance versus the global automotive market.
The group, which counts Stellantis and Volkswagen among its bigger clients, is also trying to diversify its customer base, and Favre said it is doing more business with Chinese carmakers with orders from BYD in the third quarter.
In China, which is locked in trade wars with the European Union and United States, OPMobility’s YFPO joint venture with Yanfeng, also posted higher revenue in the third quarter and again outperformed S&P’s global automotive production decline.
OPMobility confirmed its full-year outlook after competitors such as Valeo and Forvia have cut their annual guidance for the second time this year.
($1 = 0.9273 euros)
(Reporting by Mathias de RozarioEditing by Tom Hogue, Kirsten Donovan)
