OPmobility SE ($OPM)

Welcome to the OPmobility Q1 2026 Revenue Presentation. [Operator Instructions] Now I will hand the conference over to our speakers, Felicie Burelle, Chief Executive Officer; and Stephanie Laval, VP Strategic Planning and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everybody. I'm very happy to welcome you today to this Q1 2026 revenue presentation that, as it was just mentioned, I'll do with Stephanie Laval. So I will go quickly on the highlights of this Q1 2026 figures. We will deep dive with Stephanie on the performance and what was driving the dynamic at OPmobility, and then we can obviously exchange and engage, discussing questions we might have. So if we go on the first slide. You have here a summary of what are the key highlights for us for this first quarter 2026. So a stable economic revenue without the foreign exchange impact in a declining market. So we can say that it's a solid performance that the group has achieved when it comes to economic revenues, while the market has been decreasing by 3.4%. So that again demonstrates, I think, the resilience of our business model and also the relevance of our diversification strategy that enables us to compensate regionally and by customer what is happening on the market. The performance was strong in North America and Asia if we take a look at the geography standpoint strategy. So solid organic growth that was supported by solid execution and a favorable commercial dynamic in those two regions. We will come back with further detail afterwards. Obviously, all of that is happening in a challenging context. We all know that. When we met for the 2025 annual results, the market was forecasted to be stable at minus 0.3%. The latest release is showing a decrease of minus 2% for the whole year in Q1. So that has been challenged. But that being said, as far as OPmobility is concerned, there was no significant impact on the Middle East situation on our Q1 performance. Obviously, we will focus on tracking what is happening as the situation remains very uncertain every day. But no significant impact, not to say none on Q1, but we remain really agile. Obviously, we are putting measures in place to anticipate any impact to come on the second quarter and ready to implement any additional measures if the situation was to deteriorate. Back to what happened by region. So as you can see, we had a solid growth in North America, plus 4.9%, so much better than the market, that is minus 1.4%. And here, also, which was not the case at the end of the year, the trend is positive in both the U.S. and Mexico. U.S. was supported by higher demand on the C-Power activity and, notably, with Stellantis that has been recovering in the country. And Mexico, end of the year, we suffered, so to say, from some delays and slow ramp-up, which were in a much more positive trend on Q1. Same very positive dynamic in Asia, plus 7.3% for OPmobility in a market that has been declining by almost 4% with two different trends. When it comes to to China, we all know that's one of the key, I would say, difference versus 2025 is that China has entered into negative territory when it comes to the automotive market. In that context, we did better. We did not suffer from the big impact of the BYD decrease, and we have managed to maintain a relative growth in the country. Rest of Asia. So when we speak about the rest of Asia, it's India, Korea, Thailand. We benefited from growth when it comes to Thailand to good demand on the C-Power activity. Korea, a strong push again, same as last year, benefiting from the Module activity with the JV here that we have there with [ SL ]. And in India, markets that is behaving positively. And here, we are benefiting from all the abilities that are present, so notably C-Power and Exterior, that have been growing in the country. Europe, a bit of a different trend. Here, we have declined by 5.2% in a market that was down minus 2%. The reason for that is that we have had notably the Exterior activity less start of production because some of them were delayed. They will come later in the year. So that has impacted directly overall. But we have visibility that, that will impact the first half of the year, but we will be able to catch up when it comes to those SOPs by the end of the year. If we move on, yes. So next slide, again, commenting on the environment. Clearly, the dynamic is not the same as we have started the year. The latest release of S&P, as I said, now is putting the market at minus 2% for the whole year with a specific revision of Q2. But again, here, we are being very cautious. So far, we have not had any specific deviation mentioned by our customers. So no specific degradation on the volume to be expected again today. But again, we are putting in place different mechanisms to mitigate what is the indirect consequence of this situation, which is the increase in energy costs and in raw materials. When it comes to raw materials, we have most of the time indexation clauses that we are activating. And when it's not the case, we have the regular discussion with customers and suppliers. When it comes to energy costs, we have a good hedging strategy in Europe. And when it comes to other countries, again, we are putting specific measures on the customer and supplier side to try to mitigate that. And we also are implementing, I would say, so to say, usual playbook in those type of situations, where we are very cautious about all the unnecessary spending and trying really to focus on what is very strictly necessary to the management and the direction of our activity. I guess we will come back to that in more details potentially with your question afterwards. So I will let Stephanie take over.

Thank you, Felicie, and good morning, everyone. Looking at Q1 revenue. OPmobility posted a resilient performance in a declining market. If we exclude the FX impact, as you can see on the chart, both economic and consolidated revenue outperformed the market by, respectively, plus 3 points and plus 1 point. In the first quarter of 2026, group economic revenue remained stable on an organic basis at EUR 2.8 million. And the FX impact impacted significantly the revenue in Q1, mainly linked, of course, to the U.S. dollar. Now looking at the evolution of the revenue in detail. The two segments, Powertrain and Modules, are compensating the lower revenue in Exterior & Lighting in Q1, as you can see on the chart. Powertrain economic revenue amounted to EUR 654 million in Q1, representing a very strong growth of plus 5.5% like-for-like mainly driven by higher volumes of fuel tanks produced in North America. Modules revenue reached a level of EUR 912 million in Q1, posting a growth rate of plus 2.6% like-for-like mainly driven by higher volumes of modules assembled in Austin in the U.S. Turning to Exterior & Lighting. The revenue amounted to EUR 1.3 billion, down minus 5% on a like-for-like basis. This performance mainly reflects lower production volumes for Exterior in a still challenging market environment. Finally, our joint ventures continue to provide a very solid contribution with YFPO in China and SHB in South Korea growing double digit on a like-for-like basis in Q1 this year compared to Q1 last year. I will now deep dive into the business highlights for each business group. Moving to the Exterior solutions in the first quarter of 2026, covering both Exterior & Lighting and Modules results. Regarding Exterior & Lighting, the production of exterior systems in the first quarter was impacted by fewer launches compared to Q1 last year, mainly in Europe as well as programs that were postponed. Nevertheless, the business group maintained strong commercial momentum in Asia, especially in India and in China, supported by several key launches and key awards, as you can see some pictures in the slide. In India, where Exterior continued to accelerate, as an example, we have started to produce bumpers for the Skoda Kushaq. Through YFPO, the joint venture we had with Yanfeng, our Q1 Exterior revenue in China benefited from the strong momentum of activity with main Chinese players. To illustrate, we have started the production of bumpers for Xiaomi and we also secured several programs with local OEMs, including bumpers for Huawei. This demonstrates the relevance of the diversification of our customer portfolio with local OEMs, particularly in a challenging Chinese automotive market. If we now have a look at Lighting, where activity improved in North America during the quarter, supported by the production of headlamps for the recent launch of the Rivian R2. For this vehicle, you may also note that OPmobility is also producing the bumpers. In Europe, the activity of Lighting continues to be low as expected in Q1. However, starting in Q2 2026, the Lighting business will benefit from several launches secured as part of the post acquisition order book. As these programs progressively ramp up, they are expected to contribute volumes recovery and revenue growth in the coming quarters for the lighting activity. Moving to the right side of the slide to the Modules segment. Performance in North America in Q1 was driven by the ramp-up in volumes for the model launched in Q3 last year for a major U.S. EV player in Austin. And very recently, as expected, the group has started to assemble the first modules for a robotaxi program in the same plant in Austin, representing a key milestone ahead of a very gradual ramp-up throughout the year. In addition, Modules continue to deliver strong momentum in South Korea for the [ AMC ] Group. The JV, SHB, also secured a contract to produce front-end modules and carriers for the PV7 of Kia, confirming the region's role as a key driver growth for OPmobility. Now let's have an overview of Powertrain, our segment offering a comprehensive range of technical solutions for all types of powertrains, from fuel systems to battery packs and hydrogen mileage. Let's start with fuel systems. The group benefited in Q1 from increasing fuel tanks volumes, notably in the United States and in Mexico. In Q1, the business group also enjoyed commercial momentum with the launch of the GMC Acadia and an award for the Cadillac Escalade, and you can see pictures on the side. Beyond North America, the fuel systems activity continued its expansion in South Korea for Kia, in India for Renault and in Thailand for Toyota. Moving to the battery pack activity. This activity is also expanding. The ramp-up in collective mobility continues by securing a contract with Allison, a bus manufacturer, to integrate battery packs into buses in the U.S. The group also secured a major award in the U.S. to supply battery packs for a global OEM structure hybrid models. Over the lifetime of the contract, OPmobility will deliver more than 1 million battery packs, marking our entry into the passenger car segment for this activity. This award reinforces our unique high positioning, combining battery packs and fuel systems to optimize energy storage architectures for next generation of vehicles. Finally, hydrogen continued to move forward in Asia driven by increasing traction with Chinese EV mobility players. In China, in particular, this dynamic is reinforced by a supportive regulatory framework that have been clarified by the Chinese [ 15th 5-year ] plan released in March 2026. It will improve long-term visibility, strengthen project pipelines and support the progressive expansion of hydrogen deployments. Overall, Q1 2026 demonstrates continuous execution and progress across all powertrain technologies, supporting our long-term growth strategy. I'll now hand over to Felicie, who will conclude the presentation.

Thank you, Stephanie. So as we said, so resilient Q1, stable revenues in a shaky market. Obviously, as I said, closely monitoring the evolution of the Middle East situation and its indirect impact because, again, Q1 on our side has not been impacted by the ongoing conflict. In parallel of that, beyond the short-term execution, we also continue to pursue our strategic development with two opportunities that you know. The first one, we will in Q2 finalize the extension of our YFPO perimeter with our partner, Yanfeng. We will open that to decorative lighting and modules. And also, we keep on moving forward with the potential acquisition of the Hyundai Mobis lighting business. And we were there again 2 weeks ago. Due diligence is ongoing, and we are still in the same time frame as mentioned in previous calls, so hopefully, by the end of the year. So all of that is putting us in in a situation where our financial ambition for 2026 remains unchanged. Obviously, again, as I said, still paying very close attention to what will happen, but committed to improve all of our KPIs that you can see on this slide. So to conclude, I would only again reemphasize the fact that I believe that our Q1 revenues demonstrates the relevance of our strategy, that we keep on pushing diversification of customer technology countries. We are very much focused on those two important opportunities in China and in Korea. And again, we are confirming our 2026 targets. With that, I will open the session for the Q&A part.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Thomas Besson from Kepler Cheuvreux.

I'll ask 3 questions. If it's okay, I'll ask them one by one. Firstly, on the Lighting business, can you maybe share with us some elements about the geographic revenue breakdown in Q1 or in 2025? You shared the fact that you started the business with Rivian, but it's a bit small. Can you confirm for the time being that this is mostly a European business? And can you also confirm the turning points you expect for revenue in Q2 or in H2 for this business? The first question.

So on Lighting, it's really Europe and Mexico essentially. And the , I would say, expected increase and beginning of SOPs that are actually happening this month are mostly in Mexico. So the trend that we will see developing positively in terms of those projects ramping up will mostly happen in the North American region as soon as Q2.

Second question, you talked about the robotaxi first and very gradual ramp-up. Is there anything you can share with us in terms of annual volume for that product? Is it going to be a few hundred units, a few thousand units, a few tens of thousands units?

I mean we were there 2 weeks ago. They are really fine-tuning still the design and the model, which is why we believe that the ramp-up will be very progressive. So we really have low visibility as of today in terms of volume. In terms of content, as we mentioned in other sessions, it's double than what we had on the previous models. So the content is good. Perspective on volume, hard to say. But those types of, I would say, program is in the range of 50,000 or less.

Last question on Mobis. I think you've visited Korea recently. So the process is still ongoing. Can you share with us whether it's more likely to be a full acquisition or a partial acquisition and confirm that this is going to be done with existing liquidity?

So on the first one, it's still open, and I can't really comment because it's really part of the ongoing negotiation. For sure, it will be majority for us. But I can't say more on the actual percentage of share. And for sure, yes, to your second question, no impact on the liquidity.

The next question comes from Michael Foundoukidis from ODDO BHF.

Also a few questions on my side. I will do as Thomas and ask them one by one. First, you confirm the 2026 operating margin guide above 2025, and you said unchanged financial ambition despite flagging cost pressure, of course, from mid-February. Could you help us quantify a bit more precisely, let's say, the gross headwind from raw materials, energy and the freight that you are now embedding in the guide and the offsetting contribution from indexation [ clauses ]? And maybe still on this one, what may be the implications regarding earnings seasonality between H1 and H2 given some lag and some discussions? That's the first question. .

Maybe starting with your second part. Normally the seasonality we do see throughout the year is that H2 is lower than H1. The problem is that nothing is normal on anymore. And back to the delays we were talking about earlier in the presentation, we might see the opposite happening. But that, again, will depend on how long this conflict will happen. And that's why for us, it's really difficult today to take any position on that. Obviously, we are taking semester by semester. The good news is that when it comes to semester 1, so Q1, as I said, no impact. So now we are really focusing on mitigating all potential impacts for Q2 and the first half of the year that is in line with our expectation. But talking about H2 is really difficult to assess because, on top of it, you know that part of the mechanism that we have in place that are protecting us are a time lag effect. So again, we are constantly assessing what it means for us in terms of mitigating all those impacts.

Okay. My second question is on Europe. It was down 5% versus market, 3%. You said it's driven by some SOP postponements. Could you help us a bit on which programs, which customers and how this push to Q2 to H2 or maybe into 2027? And what kind of revenues are we talking about?

So we are talking mainly about Europe. We're talking mainly about the exterior activity. And here, so it's more a decision to postpone some of the SOPs later in the year, so not beyond '26. So that should stay within the year. But as you know, this activity, exterior, is the one that is having more sales that are linked into tooling and not only the volumes. And those sales of tooling, you can recognize them when you have the SOP. So the impact is really coming from that.and the fact that we have less SOPs now than expected, but that will come later in the year. So Europe and mainly French and German OEMs.

Okay. Maybe another one on Hyundai Mobis, but not on the lighting. There were some rumors, I think it was last week, saying that you were also possibly interested in the exterior business. Could you comment on that?

I mean it's part of their full portfolio assessment on the Hyundai Mobis side. So definitely, they are also questioning this activity on their side. But obviously, in Korea now, there are a lot of -- now that the deal is public, we've met also with high-level officials 2 weeks ago. And so there are a lot of rumors and nothing to be drawn from what was said. We are fully focused on the lighting activity.

Okay. And maybe a last one on China. So you had a significant performance, almost 8 points, partly driven with YFPO. First, what do you expect in H2 from the closing of the new JV, let's say, perimeter at the end of Q2? And then more generally, what's your view in terms of outperformance for the remainder of the year in China?

We will do, I think, better than the market for the year. And this is thanks to the fact that YFPO has done its diversification strategy when it comes to shifting to new OEMs. But its customer portfolio is well balanced so we are not suffering from hiccups or strong decrease like, for instance, BYD in Q1. As to the closing, we believe it will enable the YFPO teams to, one, push stronger on the product line in China. And we know the strong appetite on this project line there, so modules and decorative lighting. And also, it will be a way for us to grow and consolidate the market on the module side which is, today, a bit, I would say, fragmented. So bringing our modules and their modules to the YFPO scope will enable us to have a stronger leverage locally for this product line.

The next question comes from Jose Asumendi from JPM.

Felicie, Stephanie, a couple of questions, please. Can you comment on raw materials and the impact of rising raw materials in the business? And what are you doing about in terms of the price increases as we think about first half of the year? And then second, can you comment, please, on China? How do you see all the market into Q2, second quarter of the year and also your outperformance to the market in the future?

So on the raw materials, it is, I would say, the greatest exposure when it comes to our operating model in terms of impact. Today, we have, I would say, a good significant part of it that is having indexation clauses. So here, it's a matter of, again, time lag and how to mitigate that throughout the year to ensure that, overall, we are not suffering from the impact. And for the rest, we have to entertain some discussions, so how to get more compensation when we believe the contractual framework is efficient. But we are also not only counting on that. We are putting again measures, really spending less without jeopardizing the big topics that we've mentioned from a strategic standpoint, but being more cautious in terms of spending, in terms of traveling, in terms of some of the internal projects that we do have, put them on hold until we see how the situation develops and come back to, I would say, a normal level of activity. That's how we are mitigating. For China, Q1 was especially impacted by the strong swing from BYD. However, the export dynamic remains quite strong. It's both from China to the rest of the world. So Q2 should be definitely better, I think, than Q1. And here, again, last year, we grew by 5% versus a market that is plus 10%. And this year, we believe we will do better than the market, which would be negative. But in that context, we will perform and we will...

We have one additional question was a written question from Citi, and I just will read it. Can you comment on the Powertrain momentum seen in Europe in the context of strong year-to-date BESS growth? And how should we think about the overall 2026 growth for this business across regions? So regarding what we see and the momentum for the BESS segment in Europe today, it's not a major shift. We can see some potential increase in the BEV, but it's not really a big shift in what we serve. Look at the performance we published for the Powertrain and especially the fuel tanks segment. So we are confident that it should continue to maintain a quite significant level of fuel tank business. If we look per region on a full year basis, I will -- let be sure that in H1 will continue to benefit from strong volumes in the fuel systems. And the trend of what we see in Q1 should continue in Q2, as what we have now all the elements to say that it should continue in terms of volumes and driven in all the regions where the group operates. So we'll continue in H1. We will see in H2 because we see the trend. But for now, yes, power and the fuel tank business should remain quite a driver of growth this year for OPmobility. So this concludes the Q&A session. Now we have the final word by Felicie Burelle.

Thank you again for attending this Q1 2026 call. And again, we are very much focused on assessing the situation, but we also are happy to have a sound Q1 to engage this 2026 year, which we know was a transition year already versus when we consider the market globally, but obviously remaining cautious of all of what is happening currently. Thank you for your participation, and see you next call.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes the call. You may now disconnect.