‘Great war chest of ability': Linamar CEO highlights diversity as part of portfolio growth

CTV News

2 days ago

Jim Jarrell, CEO and President of Linamar Corporation, joins BNN Bloomberg to discuss the company's outlook as well as its growth opportunities.
The president and CEO of a Canadian advanced manufacturing company says it's important to service diversified markets and industries to handle uncertain economic times, such as the ongoing trade war between Canada and the U.S., with confidence.
Guelph-based Linamar Corporation offers products for mobility and industrial sectors, creating parts for agricultural producers, medical professionals and electrical vehicle developers.
'To me, I think diversity adds strength, I think like for all of us in Canada, it's the same thing,' Jim Jarrell told BNN Bloomberg Thursday morning. 'Diversity. We've now found out with the U.S., we need to make a deal with them, but we also have to think for the future and diversify our portfolio to the whole world. That's sort of what our plant at Linamar is. To make sure you're diversified and can handle the uncertainty times and you got to navigate through those with confidence.'
The company reported net earnings of $126.9 million in its second quarter, down from $174.1 million a year earlier, according to a news release. The company states earnings amounted to $2.12 per diluted share down from $2.
'Our mobility came front and centre, while our industrial was down a little bit,' said Jarrell. 'That balancing act takes place nicely. A couple of years ago it was the opposite side.'
Sales totalled $2.6 billion during the quarter, down from $2.8 billion the year before. The company reported free cash flow of $177.6 million, up $110.5 million from the year before.
Linamar closed in on mergers and acquisitions with companies facing distress to enhance its operations and cater to new audiences around the world. Linamar acquired Bourgault Industries Ltd. in 2024, American automotive supplier Dura Shiloh in 2023 and the Salford Group in 2022. It also developed Linamar MedTech in 2022.
Jarell said a lot of distressed companies Linamar has acquired have put in too much capital and are now underperforming financially.
'They need to get support,' said Jarrell. 'What we've been able to do is jump in and create a long-term sustainable company, and we do have to fix it. We have to go in and fix it, and you have to work with your customers to fix that and come up with commercial arrangements that make sense for a long-term survivable company. There is absolutely no shortage of these opportunities out there and our customers are coming to us because, again, there is a strong balance sheet. Free cash flow in the quarter of $180 million, which is fantastic. We have a great war chest of ability to do this.'
He said the company, and it's acquired subsidiaries in Canada and America, remains largely unaffected by tariffs as it is compliant with Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). Linamar also sources material close to its factories. He did however acknowledge it can be hard to anticipate what could come next.
'I would say predicting the future on this is extremely difficult, because it changes day to day,' said Jarrell.'I think from the mobility side, or the automotive parts industry, my analogy is sort of like an omelet. To unscramble an omelet in this North American three-way parts distribution would be very difficult and very complex to add a tariff into that system. I think it would bring the mobility industry to a halt in a very quick period, just because that supply chain just can't afford that. I think there's been a lot of lobbying on the auto parts side that I think there's a clear understanding from the administration, why that wouldn't be a smart thing to do.