Robert Bosch expects its revenues to grow by 3% to 5% this year following a 12% jump in the first quarter.
“All business divisions and regions recorded growth in the first three months of 2017, some of them significantly,” the unlisted supplier group said in a statement on Thursday.
Profits for the year are expected to rise even as levels of investment into new automotive technologies for self-driving cars, connected vehicles and electric and hybrid drivetrains remain high, Bosch said.
As part of a shift in priorities away from combustion engine technologies toward zero-emission vehicles, Bosch sold its starters and generators business this week, to a consortium headed by China’s Zhengzhou Coal Mining Machinery Group for 545 million euros.
Last year, higher investments in new technologies led to a 6.5% decline in Bosch’s underlying operating profit to 4.3 billion euros, despite revenue growth of 5.5% to 73 billion euros.
