STOCKHOLM, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Sweden's Autoliv, the world's biggest maker of seat belts and airbags, beat consensus with its fourth quarter pre-tax profit on Thursday and said it expected profitability year-on-year to grow in the first quarter of 2004.
The company reported a 67 percent jump in its fourth quarter pre-tax profit to $128 million, against analyst expectations in a Reuters poll of $115 million and $77 million a year earlier.
"The company expects its operating margin in the first quarter his year to slightly exceed the 7.2 percent level recorded in the first quarter of 2003," the company said in a statement.
Sales were up 25 percent at $1.476 billion, also beating consensus, and were in line with the company's own expectations that it would exceed the 14 percent rise in sales recorded in the previous quarter.