Cooper Standard income dips for 2018

Novi, Michigan - Cooper Standard Automotive Inc. reported sales gains, but saw a decline in net income for 2018.

Sales for the year came in at $3.63 billion (€3.2 billion), up slightly compared to $3.62 billion in 2017.

Net income decreased to $107.8 million compared to $135.3 million the year before.

For the fourth quarter, sales dropped to $872 million compared to $937.9 million.

The firm reported a $23.1 million loss in the fourth quarter compared to net income of $28.5 million in 2017.

Cooper Standard attributed the decrease in fourth quarter sales to unfavourable volume and mix, foreign exchange and customer price adjustments.

These were partially offset by the net positive impact of acquisitions and divestitures.

"Market conditions in Asia and Europe remained challenging during the fourth quarter and commodity costs continued to increase globally," Jeffrey Edwards, Cooper Standard chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

The company anticipates similar headwinds in 2019, Edwards said, adding that  focus will be on ‘creating value through innovation and improving operating efficiency.’

In 2018, Cooper Standard had a strong net new business awards in 2018 and has planned “a record number” of new programme launches for 2019, both in automotive and non-automotive businesses.

The firm said that it launched 56 new customer programmes and was awarded $64 million in annual net new business in the fourth quarter.

For the full year, Cooper's annual net new business awards totalled $441 million.

Regionally, sales dropped across the board for the fourth quarter.

Europe reported $230.2 million in fourth quarter sales compared to $267.4 million in 2017.

The change was attributable to unfavourable volume and mix, customer price adjustments and foreign exchange.

In Asia-Pacific, sales decreased by about $20 million to $143.1 million.

Cooper Standard attributed the change to unfavourable volume and mix, customer price adjustments and foreign exchange, partially offset by incremental sales related to acquisitions.

The company’s North America segment reported sales of $476.4 million, down by $3 million compared to 2017.

In South America, sales came in at $22.3 million compared to $27.9 million the prior year.