D’Ietern’s full yearly results showed growth in areas including its automotive division. The international company owns a majority share in Belron, the parent company of Safelite Autoglass. There were several points of interest the company highlighted within its report regarding its stake in Belron, specifically:
- D’Ieteren’s average stake in Belron equaled 57.78 percent in 2018. Its stake totaled 94.85 percent between January 1 and February 7.
- In June, Belron implemented an equity-based management reward plan (MRP) which reduced D’Ieteren’s stake to 54.1 percent, the amount it held at the end of 2018.
“2018 was a positive year for D’Ieteren, its activities realized healthy sales and profit growth and D’Ieteren’s key performance indicator (KPI),” a section of the report reads.
According to the company, its automotive branch mainly generates revenue from vehicle sales and selling spare vehicle parts. It saw an increase of 3.2 percent in its net sales, which the company attributes to an increase in SUV sales, higher contributions of spare parts, and acquisitions made throughout 2018.
Other notable areas include:
- D’Ieteren Auto signed new import contracts with Volkswagen Group to create new opportunities that will become more customer centric.
- The company announced the next phase of Pole Position, launched in 2014, to rationalize the footprint and to improve the profitability of the D’Ieteren Car Centers in Brussels. According to the report, since its launch the number of sites was reduced from 12 to 6, sales volumes have increased and losses have been reduced. The next phase will mainly focus on reinforcing D’Ieteren Auto’s presence in the southwest of Brussels.
Though the company has seen improvements for 2018, it has already began to outline expectations for 2019. D’Ieteren Auto aims to increase its market share for new cars in Belgium. The report also mentioned Volkswagen expanding its SUV offerings within 2019, and new models set to be released in its fourth quarter, which the company hopes will contribute to future success.
“Taking into account high comparables, the adjusted result before tax is expected to improve slightly in FY 2019 thanks to higher volumes, improved profitability of the retail activities and the contribution of recently announced acquisitions,” a section of the report reads.
