ABB Says 2nd Quarter Profit Almost Tripled
biz.yahoo.com
Thursday July 27, 6:57 am ET
ABB Says 2nd Quarter Profit Almost Tripled on Demand for Automation, Power Equipment
ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) -- Engineering company ABB Ltd. said Thursday its second quarter net profit almost tripled, boosted by strong demand for automation and power equipment.
Profits rose to $367 million in the April-June period, compared with $126 million last year, when the figure was hit by litigation and restructuring charges.
Sales rose 5 percent to $6.0 billion compared to $5.7 billion in the second quarter of 2005, the Swiss-Swedish company said in a statement.
"We continued to deliver strong results in the second quarter," said ABB President and Chief Executive Fred Kindle. "We are clearly benefiting from the strong global demand for improved power infrastructure and increased industrial efficiency.
"On top of that, our efforts to further improve our business performance continue to pay off and we look forward to a solid second half," Kindle said.
Orders and revenues improved across all business segments from the previous year, ABB said.
"It is reassuring that sales and orders in Europe picked up and that the order backlog is rising fast, providing visibility for the quarters ahead," said Bank Vontobel analyst Panagiotis Spiliopoulos.
The strong results helped ABB boost its cash flow to $337 million from $169 million in the year-earlier period. The company's cash flow has traditionally been weak in the past decade as it faced asbestos litigation costs in the United States and a weak global economic environment.
"This strong cash-flow generation will certainly give ABB more strategic flexibility, giving it financial levy to pursue the revamp of its robotics business and seek takeover targets," Spiliopoulos said |
