MAUMEE, Ohio—Dana said its sales grew nearly $1 billion in 2018, according to its preliminary financial results.
Revenues increased by about 13 percent to $8.14 billion in 2018 over 2017 numbers, according to a company news release. That boost came primarily because of strong end-market demand, conversion of sales backlog, and acquisitions and recovery of material inflation, to a lesser extent.
Dana achieved double-digit growth for the second consecutive year, adding almost $1 billion in incremental sales while improving its profit margin, said James Kamsickas, Dana president and CEO. The firm said EBITDA was up 15 percent on the year to $957 million, with its profit margin at 11.8 percent of sales.
The company said it has evolved the business to be energy-source agnostic through investment in new technologies and strategic acquisitions. Dana is positioned to address customer needs across light-vehicle, commercial-vehicle and off-highway market segments.
Its guidance for 2019 was for sales of $8.25 billion to $8.55 billion, or $8.95 billion to $9.35 billion, is sales for Drive Systems segment of the Oerlikon Group are included. Dana's acquisition of the business is expected to close by the end of February.
The company said its three-year sales backlog remains strong with $700 million of incremental sales expected from 2019 through 2021. That includes an increase of $50 million to $350 million in incremental new business in 2019, compared to the prior three-year backlog.