Brose Group to align its portfolio to meet new industry trends

The Brose Group has generated a turnover of 6.1 billion euros (Rs 46,628 crore) in 2015, exceeding the prior-year figure by 17 percent.

From a regional perspective, North America posted the strongest growth (+27 percent), followed by Asia (+19 percent) and Europe (+13 percent). The target return of 5 percent – a critical ratio for self-financing – was also reached for the first time in several years.

All business divisions continued to grow in the past year, led once again by door systems with turnover of 3.1 billion euros, an increase of 15 percent. Buoyed in particular by the strong demand for premium vehicles and SUVs, seat systems further expanded its market position and lifted turnover by 29 percent to 1.9 billion euros. Volumes in the drives business division rose by 5 percent to approximately 1 billion euros.

In 2015, the family-owned company hired a total of 1,100 employees worldwide – this corresponds to an increase of 5 percent, bringing the total workforce to 24,200.

Investments totaled over 360 million euros in 2015 (+52 percent). The funds were primarily allocated to the expansion of existing plants and to the new administration buildings in Shanghai/China and Bamberg. The company spent more than 470 million euros on R&D. Over 3,000 technicians and engineers worldwide are working on new products and manufacturing processes. This corresponds to more than 10 percent of the workforce.

2016 outlook: new business potential

Given that a more subdued growth is forecast for the automotive industry in 2016, Brose expects business to expand at a rate of about 6 percent.

"Vehicle electrification and new technical conditions also open up opportunities for Brose. We want to take advantage of these with our mechatronics expertise and experience in lightweight component and system design," stressed Jürgen Otto, CEO of the Brose Group. "Autonomous driving will change how the vehicle interior is used, and Brose will align its portfolio to meet these trends. We want to play a major role in shaping the future of the automobile with attractive and competitive products. Our aim is to safeguard the independence of our family-owned company through self-financed growth."

Read more: Brose looks to diversify its India product portfolio