Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on May 8, 2025
MILAN (Reuters) -Italy's Brembo guided on Thursday for a margin contraction this year, amid an "extremely challenging market context" for the automotive industry, after the premium brake maker reported a 13% fall in first-quarter core profit.
Executive Chairman Matteo Tiraboschi said the automotive sector was still facing difficulties, with a decline in demand and strong geopolitical uncertainties.
"We have given (forecast) numbers we are reasonably confident of, unless other things happen, other wars or other scenarios that are not, how should I say, visible today," Tiraboschi told Reuters.
Several manufacturers and automotive groups, including Mercedes, Ford, Volvo Cars and Stellantis, recently scrapped their guidance for this year due to uncertainties with U.S. tariffs.
Tiraboschi said Brembo, which runs plants both in Mexico and in the United States, was not currently suffering direct effects from U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs.
The Bergamo-based company said it forecast a margin on its 2025 core profit (EBITDA) "above 16%", compared with 17.2% last year.
Milan-listed shares in the company were down 0.7% at 1500 GMT, paring losses after falling more than 6% shortly after results were published.
Brembo, which also guided for full-year revenues in line with 2024, said its forecasts included the consolidation of Ohlins -- the suspension maker it agreed to buy in October for $405 million -- and were based on the assumption of a more stable geopolitical context in the second half of 2025.
The company added it expected to make investments of about 400 million euros ($450 million) this year, without giving more details.
In the first quarter of this year, Brembo's EBITDA fell to 153 million euros, slightly below expectations of some analysts.
Analysts at brokerages Equita and Banca Akros had forecast core profit at 161 million euros and 165 million respectively.
EBITDA margin shrunk to 16% in the January-March period, from 17.6% a year earlier.
"We will continue to invest, confident that our long-term vision is the right approach to tackling and overcoming the current industry crisis," Tiraboschi said.
($1 = 0.8864 euros)
(Reporting by Romolo Tosiani in Gdansk, Giulio Piovaccari in Milan; Editing by Louise Heavens and Jane Merriman)
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