Home Market Dwindles for BBS

BBS has released its consolidated first-half sales figures, which hold steady at 89.6 million euros. Growth outside Germany has seen the sales increase from the previous year’s figure of 89.4 million euros. However, due to dwindling business inside Germany EBT amounted to a mere 1.9 million euros.

In Germany, business volumes fell 3.4 per cent from 50.2 million euros to 48.5 million euros. Outside Germany, the wheel manufacturer boosted sales by 4.9 per cent from 39.2 million euros to 41.1 million euros. As a result, its share of sales outside Germany rose from 43.8 per cent to 45.9 per cent of its total sales.

The manufacturer states that the decline in new vehicle registrations in Germany further intensified the “competitive squeeze” in the automotive components supplier industry. And they claim to have witnessed a further trend towards lower-margin wheels.

The company invested 9.8 million euros by the end of June, compared with the 7.5 million euros injected in 2003. Of this figure, 2.6 million euros were committed to financial assets and 7.2 million euros to tangible and intangible assets. For the remainder of this year the investment focus will surround phase four of the Herbolzheim plant construction.

BBS expects to perform in a “satisfactory manner” during the second half of this year. To achieve this it will continue to enforce optimisation measures and new product developments. A company spokesperson commented: “We expect these measures to favorably improve BBS’s competitive edge.”