Mixed Q2 for suppliers
The overall decline among suppliers in Q2 may have been modest enough at 1.5 percent, but this followed three consecutive quarters of double-digit gains. Furthermore, that Q2 figure masks sharp differences in the fortunes of individual companies. Ten of the 19 companies tracked by ANE/PwC Index recorded declines in value during the quarter while six gained between 1.3 percent and 7.8 percent.
Three, however, achieved gains of more than 20 percent. The big winners were test equipment maker Polytec (up 27.2 percent), filtration and suspension systems specialist Sogefi (26.7 percent) and driver controls and cable specialist Kongsberg (21.6 percent).
Polytec's net profits rose 97 percent on a 13 percent growth in sales during the quarter, while Sogefi's net profits increased to 11.6 million euros from 2.9 million euros on a 12.5 percent rise in sales.
At the other end of the table, the biggest declines in shareholder value came from GKN and Grammer. GKN started the quarter well, announcing plans to open a new electric drivetrain facility in China and that the automotive market was performing ahead of expectations. But its share price dropped sharply after Goldman Sachs revised its price target downward.
Grammer has been locked in dispute with the Hastor family, which has built a 20 percent stake in the German automotive interiors supplier. In response Grammer has welcomed a rival auto supplier group from China, Ningbo Jifeng, as a potential white knight. Seen as a potential takeover target, Grammer's shares had risen sharply since the start of the year before relinquishing most of those gains ahead of its annual meeting on May 24, at which Hastor-backed board change proposals were defeated.