Dowlais profits, revenues hit by ePowertrain weakness

(Sharecast News) - Dowlais reported a drop in full-year profit and revenue on Wednesday, citing significant headwinds faced by its ePowertrain product line. In the year to the end of December 2024, adjusted pre-tax profit fell to £215m from £264m a year earlier, with revenue down 6.4% at £4.9bn.

Dowlais said that about 70% of this revenue decline was driven by weakness in the ePowertrain product line, due to ongoing volatility in battery electric vehicles (BEV) production schedules.

Adjusted operating profit fell 4.2% to £324 million, Dowlais said. This included £9m of operating losses from Hydrogen operations, driven primarily by lower volumes.

Chief executive Liam Butterworth said: "In 2024, strong execution enabled us to navigate a challenging environment and deliver on our updated guidance. Our market-leading Driveline business slightly outperformed the market outside of China, whereas our ePowertrain product line faced significant headwinds due to ongoing volatility in BEV production schedules, contributing to the majority of the group's 6.4% adjusted revenue decline year-on-year.

"Proactive cost management and commercial recoveries enabled us to improve our adjusted operating margin by 10bps, demonstrating our disciplined approach to protecting margins."

Dowlais - which was formed from the demerger of Melrose Industries' GKN Automotive, GKN Powder Metallurgy and GKN Hydrogen businesses - announced in January that it had agreed to be taken over by American Axle & Manufacturing in a £1.16bn deal.