By Romolo Tosiani and Giulio Piovaccari
(Reuters) -Italian brake maker Brembo raised its full-year revenue forecast on Tuesday, saying it was feeling "braver" about its orders after posting a double-digit percentage increase in the first quarter and lifting its shares.
Bergamo-based Brembo said it now expects revenue growth of about 10% in 2023, compared with its previous guidance in March for a mid single-digit increase.
Shares in Brembo were up 2% at 1450 GMT, after rising as much as 3.9% after publication of its results.
Executive Chairman Matteo Tiraboschi told Reuters that Brembo had become increasingly confident in recent months.
"Our order book is full, there is great buzz on the market, all out plants are running at full capacity," he said in a telephone interview. "This is allowing us to be a bit braver".
Brembo added it also forecast its margin on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), in percentage terms, would be in line with in that of 2022.
In the first quarter of 2023, Brembo's EBITDA rose 11.6% to 168.3 million euros ($185 million).
INCREASED CAPACITY
Brembo also said it was investing 500 million euros to expand its production capacity in Mexico, China and Poland, serving three continents.
In Poland, it Brembo said it is set to build a cast iron foundry in Dabrowa Gornicza, in Mexico it is completing the expansion of its plant focused on manufacturing brake callipers in Escobedo, while in China it will expand the production and research areas of its Nanjing site.
Tiraboschi said those investments were part of Brembo's business plan and would span three to four years.
Capital expenditure planned for 2023 was 350 million euros, including the share of those three investments for the current year, he added.
($1 = 0.9084 euros)