ZF Reports Positive Results For Centennial Year

ZF Friedrichshafen AG posted its financial results for fiscal year 2015, and the company generated group sales of €29.2 billion. This includes €8.9 billion from ZF TRW, which has been integrated as the new Active & Passive Safety Technology Division since the acquisition in May of 2015.

Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) totaled €1.6 billion, which corresponds to growth of €498 million and an EBIT margin of 5.5%. The key figures have been influenced decisively by acquisitions and disposals and, as such, are only comparable with the prior-year figures to a limited extent, ZF said.

“2015 was an outstanding year for our company,” said Dr. Stefan Sommer, ZF chief executive officer. “We celebrated our centennial and successfully completed the largest and most important acquisition in the company’s history.

“I am proud to say that, in the past financial year, we laid the foundations for a sustainably successful future at ZF. We are networking mechanical components intelligently with control units and sensors. This way, we will be able to help shape the megatrends of safety, efficiency and autonomous driving even more effectively.”

As a result of the acquisition of TRW, the ZF Group’s regional distribution of sales is now more balanced — sales share in North America increased from 20 to 28%, while the share in Europe fell from 56 to 47%. The Asia-Pacific Region accounted for 22% of ZF sales, up 2% compared to 2014.

In terms of market expectations, ZF assumes that the markets for passenger cars as well as for light and heavy commercial vehicles will show solid overall development. At the same time, the company said it expects to see substantial sales growth in the Industrial Technology Division. Drivers in this sector include the integration of the industrial drive and wind turbine gearbox business acquired at the end of 2015.

ZF expects group sales for 2016 in the region of €35 to €36 billion. The expected sharp increase in sales compared with 2015 is essentially based on the first-time full-year inclusion of ZF TRW. Over the medium term, ZF expects to see overall growth of 7% for the ZF Group.

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