After a flat first quarter, Thule reported first half sales increased 5.5% to SEK 1.52 billion ($214 mm). The success was driven primarily by a solid performance in Europe, which saw sales increase 10% due to growth in rear-mount carriers and boxes. The company has also remained quite profitable, with a 1.6% increase in operating profit to SEK 193.0 million ($27.2 mm). Thules operating margin decreased 50 basis points to 12.7% of sales versus 13.3% last year.
Geographically, the company is apparently having a difficult time is Asia; the EU/Asia division only saw sales increase 1.1%. North America is still recovering from a slow first quarter and posted a 2.3% sales decline to $43.0 million. This slight shortfall was primarily due to weaker performances in automotive, which were offset by sales gains of 10% in the trailer segment.
The second quarter was slightly more positive for Thule, with a 10% overall sales increase to SEK 871 million ($119.3 mm) compared to SEK 792 million ($104.4 mm) last year. Operating profit for the second quarter declined 0.7% to SEK 134.0 million and Thules operating margin decreased 160 basis points to 15.4% of sales. The division covering EU and Asia reported a 7.0% increase in sales to SEK 383 million ($52.5 mm) while the North American division offset some of the sales shortfall caused by difficult weather in Q1 and posted a 1.5% increase in sales in Q2 to $26.5 million.
