*

Sees EBITDA margin above 16% in 2025 from 17.2% in 2024

*

In Q1 EBITDA fell 13% to 153 million euros

*

Revenue down 5% in first quarter to 957 million euros

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To invest around 400 million euros this year

(Rewrites to lead on guidance and after interview with

executive chairman)

MILAN, May 8 (Reuters) - Italy's Brembo guided

on Thursday for a margin contraction this year, amid an

"extremely challenging market context" for the automotive

industry, after the premium brake maker reported a 13% fall in

first-quarter core profit.

Executive Chairman Matteo Tiraboschi said the automotive

sector was still facing difficulties, with a decline in demand

and strong geopolitical uncertainties.

"We have given (forecast) numbers we are reasonably

confident of, unless other things happen, other wars or other

scenarios that are not, how should I say, visible today,"

Tiraboschi told Reuters.

Several manufacturers and automotive groups, including

Mercedes, Ford, Volvo Cars and

Stellantis ( STLA ), recently scrapped their guidance for this

year due to uncertainties with U.S. tariffs.

Tiraboschi said Brembo, which runs plants both in Mexico and

in the United States, was not currently suffering direct effects

from U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs.

The Bergamo-based company said it forecast a margin on its

2025 core profit (EBITDA) "above 16%", compared with 17.2% last

year.

Milan-listed shares in the company were down 0.7% at 1500

GMT, paring losses after falling more than 6% shortly after

results were published.

Brembo, which also guided for full-year revenues in line

with 2024, said its forecasts included the consolidation of

Ohlins -- the suspension maker it agreed to buy in October for

$405 million -- and were based on the assumption of a more

stable geopolitical context in the second half of 2025.

The company added it expected to make investments of about

400 million euros ($450 million) this year, without giving more

details.

In the first quarter of this year, Brembo's EBITDA fell to

153 million euros, slightly below expectations of some analysts.

Analysts at brokerages Equita and Banca Akros had forecast

core profit at 161 million euros and 165 million respectively.

EBITDA margin shrunk to 16% in the January-March period,

from 17.6% a year earlier.

"We will continue to invest, confident that our long-term

vision is the right approach to tackling and overcoming the

current industry crisis," Tiraboschi said.

($1 = 0.8864 euros)