American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings posted a net loss of $213.2 million in the second quarter, compared with a gain of $52.5 million a year earlier, as the supplier experienced global production shutdowns in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The supplier said revenue for the quarter plummeted nearly 70 percent to $515.3 million from $1.7 billion. Second-quarter sales include $171 million from the company’s U.S. iron casting operations sold in December.
American Axle joined several other suppliers this week that reported plunges in second-quarter net income and revenue. More companies are set to report results next week.
About $947 million of sales were “negatively impacted” by the pandemic, American Axle said.
Shares of the Detroit supplier fell 0.4 percent to close Friday at $7.06 on Wall Street.
Second-quarter adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and other adjustments fell to negative $52.1 million compared with $266 million a year earlier.
“While this was an unprecedented quarter for the global economy, the industry and AAM, we took this as an opportunity to adjust our operations, structurally reduce our costs and strengthen our financial profile,” American Axle CEO David Dauch said in a Friday call with analysts.
“With the stabilization of our China operations and a ramp-up of our European and North American operations, we are optimistic about our ability to generate operating profits and positive free cash flow in this new market environment.”
Dauch also said that American Axle launched its first eDrive Program in China at Lizhou AAM Automotive Driveline System Co. for the Baojun E300 Plus program. The supplier also said it issued $400 million of unsecured senior notes at “a favorable interest rate” in the second quarter.
The supplier said it will continue to refrain from issuing financial guidance since withdrawing it March 25 because of the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic.
American Axle ranks No. 41 on the Automotive News list of the top 100 global suppliers, with worldwide parts sales to automakers of $6.53 billion in 2019.
