Adient, the automotive seating and interiors company spun off from Johnson Controls International Inc., started trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday and ran into the downdraft buffeting other automotive stocks, despite an optimistic outlook.
Adient CEO Bruce McDonald and executive vice president Byron Foster told Reuters on Monday they expect continued growth in global vehicle sales, and expressed confidence the company can expand sales and profit margins for its automotive seat and and interiors businesses.
Adient is the largest player in automotive seats, with a 34 percent global share of a business dominated by just five companies.
Despite renewed cost-cutting pressure from automakers, "We think we have a couple hundred basis points of margin expansion we can deliver, based on things we have 100 percent control of," McDonald said.
Earnings before interest and taxes for the first nine months of Adient's 2016 fiscal year were $1.2 billion, or 9.4 percent of revenues.