German supplier of automotive components and technologies Robert Bosch on Wednesday said that it expects a reduction in car production worldwide by at least 20% this year because the pandemic coronavirus inhibits the activity of production lines and reduces the demand.
"We are preparing for a global recession, which will also have a significant impact on our own operations in 2020," said CFO Stephan Bosch Asenkerschbaumer. "Given the many unpredictable circumstances, we are unable to make a reasonable forecast for the Bosch group for the year as a whole. To achieve at least a balanced result will require a maximum effort."
to cut costs, the company has advanced the timing of investments, reduced the working time to half of its staff in Germany and imposed a reduction of wages. Managers and supervisors received 20% less than regular pay in April and may.
In January, before coronaries has become a global pandemic, Bosch warned that the global car production may have already peaked, and reported preliminary profit for the entire year, which showed lower demand in Asia.
Bosch revenue in the past year remained almost unchanged and amounted to 77,7 billion euros, but earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) fell by 38% to 3.3 billion euros compared to 5.4 billion euros a year earlier, while EBIT margin declined to 4.2% from 7% in 2018.
In the medium term, Bosch plans to return to profit by about 7% from operating activities.
