Veoneer says 2019 order intake lower than expected

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish auto technology group Veoneer said on Friday its order intake in 2019 was weaker than expected, blaming a timing delay in bookings for a surprisingly slow end to the year.

The company had hinted in October https://bit.ly/37yUN9o that "certain opportunities" may be pushed into 2020.

On Friday, it estimated the lifetime value of its new order intake last year at around $2.5 billion, while its total order book was seen worth around $19 billion.

Veoneer said the full-year order intake corresponded to an average annual new order intake of around $550 million, compared to $1 billion by the end of September.

"The lower-than-expected figure is mainly due to delayed timing of orders, first indicated in Veoneer's earnings release for the third quarter," the company said in a statement.

"But the magnitude has been surprising, otherwise we would have signaled it stronger in the third quarter," Veoneer spokesman Thomas Jonsson told Reuters.

Veoneer, which makes radars, vision systems and software for advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous driving, has been hit by a deep slump in global car production and is currently implementing a range of cost-efficiency measures.

The company said it still expected to return to organic sales growth in 2020, but with growth expected to be focused in the second half of the year based on the timing of new car launches.

Veoneer's Swedish-listed depository receipts were down 2.8% by 0938 GMT. They have fallen 30% in the past 12 months.

Pointing to its big order backlog, the company issued a new sales goal for 2022, forecasting its core active safety and restraint control systems businesses would grow to $2.5 billion, with an compound annual growth rate of 19%.

(Reporting by Johannes Hellstrom, editing by Terje Solsvik and Jason Neely)