NOVI, Mich.—Cooper Standard Automotive Inc. reported an increase in sales and net income for the second quarter of 2018.
Net income came in at $50.3 million, up from $49 million in the second quarter of 2017. Sales also increased 2.1 percent to $928.3 million. It also was awarded $144 million in new business on 51 customer program launches for the quarter.
Year to date, the company reported $98.7 million in net income with $1.9 billion in sales—both increases compared to $82.2 million and $1.81 billion in net income and sales, respectively, for 2017.
"Our team continued to perform well despite challenging market conditions in the quarter," Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Edwards said in a statement.
He added that Cooper Standard is on pace for a record year of new business awards, which to date totals $284 million on 101 program launches. The firm has also generated $22 million in savings within its core business through added cost efficiencies.
Sales in North America decreased slightly for the second quarter, by 0.8 percent to $477.7 million primarily due to customer price reductions. Segment profit declined to $59.7 million compared to $64.5 million in 2017.
Sales in Europe reported growth of 7.2 percent to $279.1 million in sales, but reported a loss of $5.4 million, down compared to a loss of $3.1 million in 2017. Price adjustments and higher net material costs were the primary drivers of the decrease.
Asia-Pacific's sales rose 5.1 percent to $148 million. Segment profit also decreased to $1.4 million compared to $4.5 million. "The year-over-year change," Cooper Standard said, "was primarily attributed to unfavorable volume and mix and customer price reductions, partially offset by net favorable material costs and net operational efficiencies."
South America reported a 10.3 percent decrease in sales to $23.5 million and a $3.4 million loss, an increase from its $3.8 million loss in 2017.
"During the second quarter the company used $43.5 million of cash to repurchase shares of its common stock through an accelerated share repurchase program as well as open market transactions," Cooper Standard noted in the report. It added that the "board of directors approved a new common stock repurchase program authorizing it to repurchase, in aggregate, up to $150.0 million of its outstanding common stock."