By Adria Calatayud

Valeo shares fell sharply after the company said carmaker customers canceled orders worth billions of dollars and delayed new ones in response to economic and technological uncertainty.

Shares in the French auto-parts supplier were down 12% in European morning trade on Friday, which would be the biggest one-day percentage drop for the stock since March 2020 if maintained until close.

The company said late Thursday that an unsettled economic and technological environment led some customers to cancel orders totaling 7.3 billion euros ($7.59 billion) in 2024, or about 10% of its order intake for 2022 and 2023.

Moreover, Valeo said its order intake fell to 17.8 billion euros last year, nearly half the 34.9 billion euros it reported for 2023. The company said automakers are postponing orders as they reconsider their product offerings. Valeo expects new orders to pick up this year.

The company expects sales of between 21.5 billion euros and 22.5 billion euros and an increase in its operating margin to between 4.5% and 5.5% this year.

For 2024, it reported sales of 21.49 billion, down 0.5% on a like-for-like basis, and an operating margin that expanded to 4.3% from 3.8% a year before.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 28, 2025 04:20 ET (09:20 GMT)

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