Faurecia forecast sturdy current-quarter gross sales progress on Monday, after surging gross sales in China helped the French car parts supplier beat market expectations within the first three months of the 12 months.

Faurecia, which provides seats, dashboards and gas methods to automakers, posted double-digit natural gross sales progress throughout its main divisions, with an 88 p.c soar in China from the year-earlier interval, taking gross sales there to considerably above pre-pandemic ranges.

In a name with analysts, finance chief Michel Favre famous that automobile manufacturing was nonetheless very low in contrast with 2019, earlier than the pandemic shut factories, restricted journey and triggered a world scarcity in semiconductor chips.

“When semiconductors will probably be obtainable, I might say that issues will restart at a really, very, dynamic tempo,” he mentioned.

Automakers are competing for chips with the sprawling shopper electronics trade, amid a pandemic-led surge in demand for telephones, TVs and gaming consoles.

The scarcity has pressured a few of Faurecia’s clients, similar to Stellantis, to chop manufacturing.

Faurecia’s first quarter gross sales however rose 8.9 p.c to 4.01 billion euros ($4.79 billion) on a reported foundation, beating analysts’ 3.93 billion forecast.

The group confirmed its monetary targets and predicted very sturdy natural gross sales progress, pushed by a manufacturing ramp up in its core seats enterprise.

“Faurecia kick-started first-quarter earnings season fairly nicely with an outperformance that units a excessive benchmark for friends and bodes nicely for the full-year targets,” mentioned Oddo BHF analyst Michael Foundoukidisanal.

Barclays, in the meantime, anticipated a doable steering improve midway by way of the 12 months.