— By Plasteurope.com staff — 

Has a new name brought better luck? Automotive supplier OPmobility (Levallois, France; www.opmobility.com) – known as Plastic Omnium till a few months ago – reported a consolidated turnover of EUR 2.46 bn for the third quarter of 2024. According to the company, this corresponds to an increase of 2.9% compared with the previous year.

However, this growth is limited solely to the Modules division, as part of which a large assembly plant for e-mobility components for Tesla went into operation in Austin (Texas, USA) in April. As activities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia also performed better than a year ago, Modules increased its revenue by 23% to EUR 776 mn. Business development in other segments, however, was much more subdued. Turnover at Exterior Systems (add-on parts and lighting systems) fell by 4.9% to EUR 1.06 bn, while revenue in the Powertrain division (battery systems and hydrogen activities) fell by 3.5% to EUR 621 mn.

Related: Acquisitions boost revenues at Plastic Omnium

The third quarter of 2024 in particular appears to have been poor for these two segments. Calculated for the first nine months, the decreases for Exterior Systems (down by 1.1%) and Powertrain (down by 1.5%) are significantly less steep. By contrast, the positive effects of the new plant had less of an impact on Modules (a plus of 13%), because production only started in April. Consolidated turnover for the group as a whole therefore increased by 2.4% to EUR 7.8 bn between January and September 2024. 

CEO Laurent Favre confirmed the group’s target for 2024 of improving the operating margin compared with the previous year, increasing profits, and growing faster overall than global car production. According to the figures now presented, the latter seems quite feasible, especially as global car production shrank by 4.8% in the third quarter.