First-quarter highlights:
- 15 percent order growth, revenues return to growth at +3 percent
- Operational EBITA margin steady
- Net income up 4 percent
- Increased cash from operations
- Financials impacted by currency translation due to strong appreciation of U.S. dollar
- Continued progress on Power Systems ‘step change’ program
- Next Level strategy: Collaboration drives large combined power and automation orders
“We delivered a solid first quarter in which we grew net income and increased cash flow, in line with our commitment to drive profitable growth and accelerate sustainable value creation,” said CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer.
“In a challenging environment, we doubled large orders and kept base orders steady,” he said. “We grew orders in our three largest countries—the US, China and Germany—on a like-for-like basis and won key projects due to our combined power and automation offering, reflecting our competitive advantage. We brought revenue back to growth, benefiting from our order backlog and strong focus on growth segments in a difficult market overall.
“We continued to make progress in our Power Systems ‘step change’ program,” he said. “Mix effects and market challenges, such as oil and gas, weighed on margins in the rest of the group. We have taken decisive actions on cost and productivity to address this as part of our ongoing focus on relentless execution. In total, we delivered a steady operational EBITA margin.
“We are seeing the first benefits of our Next Level strategy, giving us confidence that we can take advantage of profitable growth opportunities. We are driving cost out and implementing additional restructuring to address market uncertainties in the quarters ahead” Spiesshofer said.
