<<BACK TO HOME

Automotive components group Visteon has announced a net loss of $372 million in 2007, against full-year losses for 2006 of $163 million, it announced today. Sales remained unchanged at $11.3 billion.

Chairman and CEO Michael Johnston said that the group had continued to make progress on its restructuring and that 18 out of 30 items in the three-year plan had been completed. He said: "By implementing our restructuring and continuing to improve our operations and global capabilities, we are positioning Visteon for long-term success."

In the fourth quarter of 2007, Visteon reported a net loss of $43 million. It also closed its climate controls plant at Connersville in Indiana and told staff at its Bellignat interiors factory in France that it would close in the first quarter of 2008.

Bellignat and a factory at Bedford, Indiana are among facilities scheduled to close in 2008 and the group will also sell its non-core chassis business at Swansea in Wales this year. It has also announced that the fuel tank assembly plant at Concordia in Missouri will close in the third quarter of 2008.

Further sales of facilities in 2008 will include aftermarket products plant at Sparta in Tennessee and at Reynosa in Mexico.

Visteon's 2007 results showed a further move away from dependence on its former parent group, Ford. In 2007, Ford business fell by $659 million to $4.1 billion, while non-Ford customers' business accounted for $674 million more than in 2006, reaching $6.6 billion or 61 per cent of the total.

Visteon reckons the net results in 2008 should be close to break even, and is forecasting a total in the range between minus $25 million and plus $25 million.