LISI GROUP - Integrated report 2021

74 — LISI – 2021 INTEGRATED REPORT 2021 Performance What are your market forecasts for the year 2022? The consequences of the pandemic, whose effects on industrial organizations are clearly visible, have not interrupted the implementation of our New Deal plan. This provides in particular for the strengthening of our strategic positions and the deployment of commercial offers in the growing segments. However, the global automobile market remains very unstable. The 2021 numbers are generally not good and the transition to electric generates many questions about the usage constraints linked to this new traction chain. These uncertainties are likely to weigh on consumer choice, particularly in Europe, where regulations are stricter than in the United States. These elements will play on the market’s ability to rebound. We nevertheless remain very active in terms of commercial conquest. We work very closely upstream with manufacturers to offer innovative solutions adapted to the new generations of electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles that will reach the market 3 years from now. Although part of our business, especially assembly parts for interior and exterior trim, remains independent of developments in traction chains, we focus our innovation and our investments on the vehicles of tomorrow. We have already been selected by a manufacturer to be their reference supplier for threaded fasteners with undue head sealing for battery box covers. We have opened a plant in Tangier to produce electrical wiring elements and we have just inaugurated our laboratory and our semi-industrial demonstrator to validate with our customers, before we launch mass production, our new multi-material assembly processes particularly suited to new electric vehicles. All these factors confirm that LISI AUTOMOTIVE is able to support the development and industrialization of high added value products intended to meet the requirements of electromobility. 100%, flat steels and plastics by 50% since mid-2021. Intercontinental shipping rates are at record highs. We had to engage in very tight negotiations with all of our customers to pass on these increases. In most cases, we have found balanced agreements with manufacturers. In the best case scenarios, we have managed to set up indexation contracts. What were the consequences of these shocks? In a global automotive market hard hit by the slowdown in production, the division’s sales grew by 7.4%, which confirms our ability to gain market share in a deteriorated environment. Order intake for new products related to vehicle electrification accelerated. However, the shutdown of the assembly lines at the manufacturers nevertheless caused a discrepancy between the order books and what our customers actually lifted, especially in Europe. Given our run times, we have experienced periods of significant overstock. In September, we decided to adjust our production and we informed our customers that we were starting to manufacture based on our estimates: every week, our teams assess the situation to calibrate production on the basis of information that we consider reliable. Things are gradually getting back to normal and the reliability of order books has been improving since mid-November. We believe, once again, that these constraints at manufacturers will be lifted in the fall of 2022. We are ready to gradually manage the ramp- up of production lines. We work very closely upstream withmanufacturers to offer innovative solutions adapted to new generations of electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles that will arrive on the market in 3 years.” François Liotard, CEO, LISI AUTOMOTIVE LISI AUTOMOTIVE LISI AUTOMOTIVE Delle