MILAN (Reuters) -Italy’s Iveco said on Tuesday the negative effects of supply chain disruptions would peak this quarter after its operating profit topped estimates in the first three months of the year thanks to its performance in light commercial vehicles and buses.
In its first set of results as a stand-alone company, the truckmaker posted adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of industrial activities of 82 million euros ($88 million) in the January-March period.
That was lower than a 116 million euro pro-forma result one year earlier, when the company was still part of CNH Industrial, but exceeded an analyst consensus of 37 million euros reported by Intesa Sanpaolo.
“Results were far less bad than we expected,” a Milan-based trader said.
Milan-listed shares in Iveco turned positive after results were published to gain 6.3% by 1230 GMT.
The company said in a statement global supply chain issues continued to represent the main challenge for its operations, including raw material price increases and parts availability, semiconductors in particular.
However, Chief Executive Gerrit Marx said that, as the company approached the second quarter, “we foresee the most severe impacts from component shortages for the entire year”.
($1 = 0.9369 euros)
(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari, additional reporting by Claudia Cristoferi, editing by Cristina Carlevaro and David Evans)
