MILAN — Italian premium brakes maker Brembo said the crisis triggered by the coronavirus pandemic would continue to have a big impact on its performance this year, after its core profit fell by 24 percent in the first quarter.
The supplier said it was difficult to put figures on its expectations, given uncertainties over the future course of the pandemic, the response of governments and the strength of economic recovery. But Brembo said the effects were expected to remain “significant” in the remaining quarters of 2020.
Executive Deputy Chairman Matteo Tiraboschi said any forecast provided now would probably be wrong.
“Before giving guidance, we need to assess in the coming weeks how the automotive market will react,” he said in an interview on Monday. “Uncertainty is what we fear most”
Brembo said in a news release that its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) dropped to 102 million euros ($110 million) in the first quarter from 134.2 million euros a year earlier.
Revenues fell 13.7 percent year on year to 575.9 million euros. Its EBIT margin fell to 8.7 percent from 13.0 percent a year earlier.
“Once again we have proved to be more resilient than the market, and our aim is to continue to do so,” Tiraboschi said.
Brembo, which makes brakes for brands including Ferrari, Tesla, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Maserati, as well as several Formula One teams, has gradually resumed operations at its Italian plants since the end of April after they were shut on March 16.
Automakers have partially restarted production in Europe and Asia as governments are easing restrictions imposed to limit the spread of the coronavirus, which led to a collapse in car demand over the past two months.
Automakers’ operations in North America, however, are only expected to resume later this month.