Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

ABB Misses Estimates Amid Fewer Orders for Power Businesses

(Bloomberg) — ABB Ltd., the Swiss maker of grid connections and robots, reported fourth-quarter profit and sales that missed analyst estimates amid fewer orders for its power businesses.

Net income was $680 million, compared with an analyst estimate of $694 million. Sales dropped 9 percent to $10.3 billion, the company said in a statement today.

“Utilities continued to be cautious in capital expenditures,” Chief Executive Officer Ulrich Spiesshofer said in the statement. “Higher like-for-like revenues in the company’s short-cycle businesses, especially in low-voltage products, were not sufficient to offset revenue decreases in the power divisions.”

The results are a setback for Spiesshofer, who took over in 2013 and had pledged to return the Power Systems unit, which has been grappling with delays to complex renewable energy projects, to profitability.

The company today proposed to increase the dividend to 0.72 francs per share from 0.70 francs. The company already in September announced a $4 billion share buyback to reward investors after the stock of the $42 billion sales company underperformed rivals such as Siemens AG and General Electric Co.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Webb in Munich at awebb25@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Thiel at sthiel1@bloomberg.net Andrew Noel

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR