Digital mapper TomTom's Q1 revenue beats estimate on location technology performance

By Mathias de Rozario

(Reuters) -Dutch digital mapping specialist TomTom beat revenue expectations on Tuesday, after a strong performance in its automotive and enterprise location technology businesses.

The Amsterdam-based company posted revenue of 140.4 million euros ($159.44 million) for the first quarter, up 1% year-on-year, and above the 136 million euros forecast in a company-provided consensus.

Shares were trading 20.8% higher at 0818 GMT after the company's announcement.

"It was an encouraging start of the year in terms of demand and production numbers," CEO Harold Goddijn told Reuters. "The effort is now more on the value-add layers and the value-add content."

The company expects the impact of U.S. tariffs on its operations to be limited, because of relatively low exposure to the American market, Goddijn said.

"We will be affected but not in a big way if car imports really start to drop in the U.S. because of tariffs," he said.

TomTom benefited from a growth of 18% in its enterprise location technology business, attracting customers such as Microsoft and Esri to its platform.

Revenue for the company's automotive location technology business, which generates 56.8% of total revenue, stood at 79.7 million euros at the end of the first quarter, also beating estimates.

ING's Marc Hesselink said this was a "positive surprise given the ongoing weakness in global car markets."

Total new car registrations in the EU declined by 3.4% in February — the second consecutive monthly drop this year.

"We believe this is a good overall update which provides comfort after the weaker FY24 update," Hesselink said.

($1 = 0.8806 euros)

(Reporting by Mathias de Rozario in Gdansk; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Rachna Uppal)