2016 Net Income Down, Revenue Up at Wabco Holdings
Commercial vehicle supplier Wabco Holdings Inc. reported lower net income on higher revenue for the fourth quarter and full year in 2016.
The company reported fourth-quarter net income fell 36.1% to $63 million, or $1.15 per diluted share, compared with $98.7 million, or $1.71, a year earlier.
Revenue climbed to $714 million, up 6.4% compared with $671 a year earlier.
Net income for all of 2016 was $223 million, or $3.98, down 23% compared with $275 million, or $4.72, a year earlier.
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Full-year revenue increased to $2.8 billion, up 6.9% compared with $2.6 billion in the 2015 period, the Brussels-based company said.
“In Q4 2016, we continued to increase market penetration in key regions, such as China, the world’s largest market for commercial vehicles, where in particular we augmented adoption of Wabco anti-lock braking systems on light- and medium-duty trucks,” Wabco Chairman and CEO Jacques Esculier said in a statement.
However, he said during an earnings call Feb. 17 that 2016 "was rich with ups and downs" in demand in its truck and bus segment, especially in North America.
Esculier said full-year demand in the United States "melted down 20%, way more than we expected and the Class 8 market eroded 30%.
The fourth quarter saw "even more incredible swings in demand," he added. The company also said new long-term agreement with Shaanxi Fast Gear Co. in China to continue to develop and supply automated manual transmission technology for commercial vehicles. Fast Gear is the world’s largest manufacturer of heavy-duty transmissions, said Wabco.
Wabco is the global market leader with nearly 3.5 million AMT systems sold, the company said.
Its North American presence is through a joint venture, Meritor Wabco based in Troy, Michigan, with Meritor Inc.
Also, “We continued to increase levels of Wabco content per vehicle through market-share gains and additional uptake of our industry-leading safety and efficiency technologies globally,” Esculier added.
At the same time, Wabco delivered over $15 million of cost savings in operating expenses for full year 2016, it said.
Wabco is a supplier of technologies and services that improve the safety, efficiency and connectivity of commercial vehicles, it said, with 13,000 employees in 40 countries.
