VDL Groep, the Dutch manufacturer of MINI and the BMW X1, has seen its turnover for the first half of 2018 grow by 29% compared to the first half of 2017. This brings the combined turnover to € 3.1 billion. The number of employees of the company has grown by 11% in one year to more than 17,000.
The biggest growth within the company can be seen in the Automobile Assembly division. Turnover there grew from € 1,326 million to € 1,882 million. This is mainly due to the increased production of the MINI and BMW X1.
The Supplies division grew mainly in the high-tech and automotive segments, to EUR 668 million, compared with EUR 564 million in the first half of 2017.
As a result of investments in the development of electric vehicles, VDL Bus & Coach closed the first half of the year with a loss. The turnover and order book of this division grew.
The turnover did not increase everywhere but fell from € 291 million to € 272 million for the End-products division. According to VDL, this is due to the fact that fewer projects have been completed in the past six months.
VDL Groep’s CEO, Willem van der Leegte, is pleased with the result: “We are positive that our operating result has improved again. Although we remain vigilant on economic changes and cost increases, we remain fully committed to investing in our employees, production processes, products and markets. Organizing growth remains an important focus of attention, and at the same time, we are striving to improve our results step by step.
The Eindhoven company expects to close this year with a turnover of more than € 6 billion and to exceed last year’s net result.
