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Strategies & Market Trends : ABB (Asea Brown Boveri) ADR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Skywatcher who wrote (10)	8/23/2007 1:07:55 PM
From: Skywatcher	Respond to of 106

ABB 2Q Net Profit Doubles Thursday July 26, 12:36 pm ET ABB Says 2Q Net Profit Doubled on Sales, Orders Growth ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) -- ABB Ltd.'s second-quarter profit nearly doubled on strong growth in sales and orders, the Swiss-Swedish electrical engineering firm said Thursday. The company also said it has informed the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about suspect payments made by several of its employees. ADVERTISEMENT Net profit in the three months through June rose to $729 million (530.5 million euros), compared with $367 million in the same period a year ago, ABB said, adding that demand is robust in all its businesses and in all regions. Sales rose 27 percent to $7.14 billion (5.2 billion euros). Orders jumped 26 percent to $8.67 billion (6.31 billion euros). ABB warned that growth for the rest of the year will probably moderate from its current record levels. Nevertheless, Thursday's results beat expectations. "This will again lead to ratings and price target upgrades," Panagiotis Spiliopoulos, an analyst at Zurich private bank Vontobel, told Dow Jones Newswires. He rates the stock at market outperform. "Although ABB said that growth will stall from current high levels, there are no signs that the current healthy environment will change." Shares of ABB, which have soared 27 percent already this year, fell 0.7 percent to 27.50 Swiss francs ($22.76) in Zurich on Thursday. "Our second quarter was marked by continued strong growth with outstanding operating margins," said Fred Kindle, ABB's chief executive. "ABB continues to benefit from increased global investments in energy efficiency as well as power and industrial infrastructure." Analysts were not too worried about the new compliance probe in the United States. "The news on the disclosure of suspect payments to the SEC and DoJ is worth monitoring," Credit Suisse analyst Julian Mitchell wrote in a report. "But we don't view it as a major issue at this stage." In 2004, ABB paid $15.5 million in fines to American authorities after pleading guilty to violating anti-bribery and internal accounting rules. ABB said its internal audit and compliance program triggered the new probe of suspect payments made by employees of company subsidiaries in Asia, South America and Europe, citing Italy in particular. The company said potential fines could hurt its business, but added that it was fully cooperating with regulators.