BBS Parent Company Reports “Extremely Difficult” Market Conditions

Belgium based Punch International nv, parent company of wheel manufacturer BBS International GmbH, has posted an net profit of 43.3 million euros for the 2008 year, an increase of 51.9 per cent – however the company has made the less than sanguine statement that the performance of its automotive operations were “weak” and the market “extremely difficult. Altogether, the company generated sales of 341.5 million euros, an increase of 3.0 per cent on 2007.

In mid-2008 the expectations for BBS International were still positive. However sales fell by approximately 50 per cent in the fourth quarter of the year, and Punch believes this tendency will continue on into 2009. For the year to December 31, 2008, BBS achieved sales of 71.8 million euros, up from 37.8 million euros a year earlier.

In June 2008 BBS International took over Hoboken Wheels bvba, the Belgian subsidiary of Hayes Lemmerz. The establishment in Hoboken produced cast aluminium wheels for passenger cars, but Punch reports it had been making a loss for some time. The factory was closed in the second half of the year. In February 2009, BBS also announced a staff restructuring, in which 150 of its 450 employees would be made compulsory redundant.