STOCKHOLM — Sweden’s Autoliv , the world’s largest producer of airbags and seatbelts, on Friday said it more than doubled its first-quarter net income amid strong sales growth across all its regions.
Autoliv, which rivals ZF and Joyson Safety Systems, said that although the pandemic was still affecting it in some ways, organic, or like-for-like, sales growth reached 17.9% in the first quarter.
The company said net income surged 110 percent to $157 million during the quarter. Revenue improved 21 percent to $2.24 billion.
Shares in Autoliv gained 6.8 percent to $104.77 in midday trading.
CEO Mikael Bratt said a global shortage of materials, including semiconductors, had limited light vehicle production.
“And we expect this situation to continue in the second and third quarter of this year,” Bratt said in a statement.
Autoliv said in January that the semiconductor shortage, which has impacted vehicle makers across the world, could have a negative impact on car production in the first half of 2021, while not directly affecting the company.
The company reported a first-quarter operating profit of $237 million compared with a $134 million profit in the year-ago quarter and a mean forecast of $201 million based on a poll of analysts published by the company.
Autoliv kept its forecast for around 20 percent organic sales growth and an adjusted operating margin of about 10 percent in 2021, adding it now expected 23 percent net sales growth versus a previous forecast of 25 percent.
Autolive ranks No. 31 on the Automotive News list of the top 100 global suppliers with worldwides sales to automakers of $8.55 billion in 2019.
Automotive News contributed to this report.
