STOCKHOLM — Veoneer expects organic sales growth of more than 25 percent in 2021 and a return to profitability in 2023, the automotive technology group said on Wednesday after reporting a $77 million operating loss in the fourth quarter.
The maker of vision systems, radars and software for advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) was hit hard by the pandemic in 2020 but global car production rebounded in the second half of the year.
Veoneer’s $14 billion order book is only now starting to fully materialize as sales, due to long lead times between orders and production in the auto industry.
Sweden-based Veoneer said it expects increased order intake this year as well as a smaller operating loss.
“The company expects to arrive at a sustainable operating profit and positive free cash flow during 2023,” it said in a statement.
Veoneer reported a $77 million operating loss for the fourth quarter versus a $72 million loss a year earlier, but beat the $83 million loss expected by analysts in a poll published by the company.
“The report is good and guidance indicates a faster path to positive EBIT and free cash-flow than we currently expect,” Carnegie analysts said in a research note.
Shares in Veoneer, which competes with companies such as Aptiv, Bosch, Continental and Mobileye, closed Wednesday’s trading in New York up 6.7 percent to $28.80.
The stock has been under pressure since the company was spun off from airbag maker Autoliv in 2018, but has more than doubled since August when it teamed up with Qualcomm to develop a software and chip platform for ADAS.
