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5. Visteon Corporation Business Report FY ended Dec. 2017

Visteon Corporation Business Report FY ended Dec. 2017

Factors
1) Net Sales
-The Company’s sales for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 decreased by 0.5% over the previous year to USD 3,146 million. Favorable sales volumes, product mix and net new business increased sales by USD 127 million. The Company’s Electronics operations in the Asia Pacific and Europe region performed better than expected while its operations in North America showed weakness. The overall business gains were offset by changes in customer pricing and the Company’s exit from its climate operations in late 2016.

2) Net Income
-For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017, the Company had a net income of USD 176 million, an increase of 134.7% from the previous year. The increase was primarily due to non-recurrence of 2016 losses from discontinued operations, 2017 income from discontinued operations, decreased restructuring charges, and higher equity and gains from non-consolidated affiliates.

Recent Developments

-The Company and Astra Otoparts are expanding the production and supply of instrument clusters and multi-function displays to major vehicle and motorcycle manufacturers in Vietnam. Astra Visteon Vietnam, a fully owned subsidiary of the 50-50 joint venture Astra Visteon Indonesia, will manage pre-delivery, quality inspection and just-in-time delivery of instrument clusters and information displays for Honda’s manufacturing facility in Hanoi. Astra Visteon Vietnam will begin operations in Hanoi in January 2018. (From a press release on November 15, 2017)

Business Partnership

-The Company’s subsidiary, Visteon Asia Pacific (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., signed a strategic partnership agreement with NavInfo. The latest agreement is made based on the strategic partnership framework agreement sealed on July 11, 2016, by Yanfeng Visteon Electronics Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. and NavInfo, with further details about their alliance scheme and contents in the area of the autonomous driving technologies. Under the framework of the two-year tie-up, NavInfo will supply maps and a big data cloud platform required for autonomous driving, while the Company develops autonomous driving systems, tests high-precision map data, and provides test results and technological indicators. The Company will also supply information gathered by autonomous driving system’s sensor robots for the use in evaluating and updating NavInfo’s road map information. The Company and NavInfo will jointly test a vehicle with a trial autonomous driving system. (From a corporate announcement released by NavInfo on April 20, 2017)

Contracts

-The Company launched its latest HD digital display technologies on the new Range Rover Velar in March 2017. The Company offers its 12.3-inch HD virtual cluster with retina-class resolution on the Range Rover Velar. It also supplies 8-inch rear-seat dual-view entertainment displays. The cluster is powered by advanced multi-core platform technology designed for superior multimedia and graphics performance with an exclusive HMI, created specifically for the Range Rover Velar. The Company will offer its high-end instrumental cluster technologies to other models including the Jaguar XF, the Jaguar XI, the Range Rover, the Range Rover Sport and the F-Pace. (From a press release on July 5, 2017)

-The Company announced that Dongfeng Motor has selected the SmartCore cockpit domain controller technology for a future domestic Chinese light vehicle program. This will be the Company’s first SmartCore application in China. The Company will supply the SmartCore domain controller with an integrated center information display and thin-film transistor instrument cluster display for a high trim level of a high-volume Dongfeng light vehicle scheduled for production starting in 2018. The Company is scheduled to launch the first SmartCore-based solution in 2018, for a European vehicle manufacturer. (From a press release on April 21, 2017)

-The Company was awarded a major customer vehicle program for its SmartCore cockpit domain controller technology. The Company is scheduled to launch the first SmartCore-based solution in 2018 for a European vehicle manufacturer. This second SmartCore solution is scheduled to launch in 2020 with another European automaker. The Company offers instrument cluster and infotainment features and expands the platform to high-end applications with industry-first 3D display and augmented reality HUD capabilities. (From a press release on January 3, 2017)

Awards

-The Company has been awarded the German Center of Automotive Management’s 2017 top innovation prize in the “strongest innovation from automotive supplier - interface and connectivity” category for the strength of SmartCore’s security-focused ECU consolidation and centralized cockpit domain controller approach. The Company is the only supplier offering an automotive-grade, integrated domain controller that can independently operate several cockpit domains on one System on Chip through a single driver interface. Working in close collaboration with European and Chinese automakers to bring this industry-first technology to market, the Company is scheduled to launch the first SmartCore-based solution in 2018 on a high-volume, global vehicle platform with a European automaker. Future SmartCore applications will include a new light vehicle from a Chinese automaker in 2018. (From a press release on May 5, 2017)

Outlook

-For the fiscal year ending December 31, 2018, the Company expects to have sales between USD 3,175 million and USD 3,275 million as well as an adjusted EBITDA between USD 370 million and USD 380 million.

-After its restructuring, the Company expects to budget approximately 12% to 12.5% of its sales per year for research and development spending.

R&D Facilities

-The Company has 18 technical centers located across the world.

Technological Alliance

-The Company is joining forces with the American Center for Mobility (ACM) in Ypsilanti, Michigan, U.S. to support the development and testing of connected and automated transportation technologies. With a USD 5 million strategic investment, the Company is the first Tier 1 automotive supplier to join as a Founder-level sponsor of the Center. The Company joins AT&T, Toyota, Ford and Hyundai as ACM founders. (From a press release on November 13, 2017)

Investments outside U.S.

-On June 29, 2017, the Company’s subsidiary, Jiangsu Toppower Automotive Electronics Co., Ltd., inaugurated and began production at a new plant. The new plant is built on a 64,000-square-meter site with a total investment of CNY 350 million. The first construction phase developed a facility with 20,000 square meters of operating area and an initial annual production capacity of 5 million units. The plant is expected to generate annual sales between CNY 3 to 3.5 billion. (From some releases on July 3, 2017)