Forvia Shows Significant Improvement in Operational Performance in 2025 with Decreased Financial Leverage
Forvia has released its annual 2025 results, marked by an improvement in operational margin and a significant reduction in debt. The group anticipates a financial leverage of 1.5x by the end of 2026 and continues the divestiture of its Interiors division, currently in advanced negotiations.
Operational Results and Market Dynamics
Forvia's consolidated operational result for 2025 reached 1,456 million euros, an increase of 40 basis points to 5.6% of revenue. This improvement comes in a context of a global automotive production increase of 3.9%, reaching 93.0 million light vehicles. Growth was concentrated in China with an increase of 10.2%, offsetting declines observed in Europe and North America. All business groups, except for Lighting, contributed to the margin improvement. Organic sales remained stable with a 1.5% increase in product sales. Forvia recorded an order book of 27 billion euros in 2025, down from 31 billion euros in 2024, mainly reflecting the postponement of tenders in the context of the slowdown in electrification. The Electronics and Clean Mobility divisions drove organic sales growth, while the implementation of effective countermeasures limited the impact of increased tariffs in the United States.
Cash Flow and Debt Management
Net cash flow increased by 47% to reach 962 million euros, supported by an improvement in three recurring factors. Changes in working capital and factoring generated a net flow of 303 million euros, with solid collections more than offsetting the reduction in supplier liabilities. The outstanding factoring of customer receivables amounted to 1.2 billion euros at the end of 2025 compared to 1.3 billion at the end of 2024. Net financial debt decreased by 613 million euros to settle at 6,010 million euros at year-end. The net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio stood at 1.7x at the end of 2025 compared to 2.0x at the end of 2024. Forvia raised approximately 2.7 billion euros in new debt and repaid 3.4 billion euros in short-term loans, smoothing maturities beyond 2032. The group accessed the American bond market for the first time by issuing 1 billion dollars, and also raised a bank loan in Chinese yuan. The average duration of the debt extended to 3.4 years at the end of 2025 compared to 3.1 years at the end of 2024.
Net Results and Strategic Adjustments
Forvia's consolidated net result attributable to the group was a net loss of 2,091 million euros in 2025, mainly due to non-cash exceptional charges of approximately 1.85 billion euros. These charges reflect the transformation and rationalization of the group's portfolio. The EU-FORWARD program recorded 6,400 job cuts announced by the end of 2025, ahead of schedule, generating restructuring costs of 410 million euros expected to peak in 2025 and decrease from 2026. Forvia is negotiating the sale of its Interiors division, a transaction that would reduce net debt by at least 1 billion euros once finalized. The group launched the SIMPLIFY project aimed at reducing baseline costs by 110 million euros by 2028, with restructuring costs of about 150 million euros over the period 2025-2028. The board of directors decided to revise the dividend policy and proposes no distribution in 2026, with priority given to debt reduction.
