(Reuters) -GKN Automotive owner Dowlais Group on Tuesday maintained its 2023 outlook and said its first-half performance was ahead of its expectations on the back of robust margins and the rapid transition to electric vehicles.
The car parts supplier, reporting its first set of results after it was spun-off from Melrose Industries (LON:MRON) in April, said its adjusted operating profit rose about 39% to 177 million pounds ($221.41 million) for the six-month period ended June 30.
"We have also secured record new business bookings, the majority of which are related to EVs, at attractive margins," CEO Liam Butterworth said in a statement.
GKN (LON:GKN) Automotive, which makes the lion's share of the group revenue, supplies drive system technologies to the likes of Ford, General Motors (NYSE:GM), Volkswagen (ETR:VOWG_p), Geely and Toyota.
Melrose acquired GKN - one of the UK's oldest engineers - in 2018 through an 8-billion-pound hostile bid. Last year, it announced plans to break it up by spinning off GKN's automotive, hydrogen and powder metallurgy businesses into Dowlais, while retaining GKN Aerospace.
Adjusted revenue rose 10% to 2.83 billion pounds from prior year on a constant-currency basis, the company said on Tuesday.
($1 = 0.7994 pounds)