ZURICH (dpa-AFX) - Shares of ABB Ltd. were gaining around 6 percent in the
morning trading in Switzerland after the Swiss engineering company on Thursday
reported higher Operational EBITA, a key earnings metric, in its first quarter.
Meanwhile, net profit and orders were lower and revenues were nearly flat. The
company said its order intake for the first quarter was better than expected.

Looking ahead for the second quarter, the company anticipates a mid-single digit
comparable revenue growth year-on-year and the Operational EBITA margin to be
slightly higher than in the first quarter 2024.

Further, ABB now expects fiscal 2024 operational EBITA margin of about 18
percent, while previously it expected slight improvement from the 2023 level of
16.9 percent. ABB continues to expect comparable revenue growth to be about 5
percent for the year.

Bjorn Rosengren, CEO, said, 'Against high comparables, our Q1 performance shows
the year has started off well with stronger than expected order momentum,
record-high margin and strong cash delivery. This makes us confident to nudge up
our margin expectation for 2024.'

In its first quarter, ABB's net income attributable was $905 million, down 13
percent from last year's $1.04 billion. Basic earnings per share fell 12 percent
to $0.49 from $0.56 a year ago. The net income were lower as last year's results
were benefited by low tax rate.

Income from operations, however, grew 2 percent year-on-year to $1.22 billion.
Margin on Income from operations was 15.5 percent, up by 30 basis points
year-on-year.

Operational EBITA grew 11 percent to $1.42 billion. Operational EBITA margin
improved 1.6 percentage points from last year to 17.9 percent. Gross profit
improved 8 percent from the prior year to $2.94 billion and gross margin grew
2.7 percentage points to 37.3 percent, supported by a positive development in
all business areas.

Revenues remained stable at $7.87 billion, compared to prior year's $7.86
billion. Strong growth in Electrification and Process Automation were offset by
weakness in Motion and Robotics & Discrete Automation.

Revenues were up 2 percent on a comparable basis, with comparable growth
supported in equal parts by price and volumes.

Orders fell 5 percent to $8.97 billion from last year's $9.45 billion. On a
comparable basis, orders declined 4 percent.

Orders in the Americas dropped by 3 percent as a positive comparable development
in the United States was offset by declines elsewhere and mainly due to the
timing of large orders. Europe declined by 8 percent weighed down by important
markets like Germany and Italy. Asia, Middle East and Africa orders fell 4
percent as strong comparable development in countries like India, Japan and
Australia were offset by a sharp decline in China.

In Switzerland, ABB shares were trading at 44.09 Swiss francs, up 5.7 percent.
For more earnings news, earnings calendar, and earnings for stocks, visit
rttnews.com.



Copyright(c) 2024 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved

Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX