FRANKFURT: German car parts maker and industrial services firm Robert Bosch said it expected sales to rise at the lower end of its 3 percent to 5 percent forecast range this year if a slowdown in the first quarter continues.
Bosch said revenue rose 22 percent to an all-time high of 70.6 billion euros ($79.9 billion) last year helped by sales of car safety and assistance systems but cautioned that momentum had slowed at the start of 2016.
"If the first quarter's slowdown continues in certain regions and markets, sales growth will be at the lower end of the forecast scale," Bosch said in a statement on Wednesday.
The company, which makes household goods, engine components and sensor technologies, said its earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) rose 24 percent to 4.6 billion euros last year.
Earnings were lifted by one-off items such as the consolidation of two joint ventures: BSH Hausgeraete and the automotive steering technology division it ran with ZF.
Bosch said it was continuing a strategic push in the area of software, sensors and services businesses, using Internet connectivity to add new products to complement its hardware and components.
Bosch car sensors identify empty parking spaces on the street as a vehicle drives past and an Internet connection then collects this data to generate a real-time map of available parking spaces.
Sales at its mobility solutions division, which supplies the auto industry with sensors and software to give cars semi-autonomous driving and parking capabilities, rose 12 percent on a currency adjusted basis to 41.7 billion euros last year.
That outpaced global automobile production, which rose only 2 percent in 2015.
Bosch sales in the industrial technology sector fell 1.6 percent to 6.6 billion euros.
By 2020, Bosch expects its "connected industry" to deliver 1 billion euros in cost savings and to generate an additional 1 billion euros in sales.
Stuttgart-based Bosch also makes an engine management programme used by several top automakers including Volkswagen.
Both companies are under investigation by German prosecutors and US authorities who are examining what role employees of the companies may have played in designing software to help cheat US emissions tests.
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