ABB Revenues Up, Profits Down

ABB's automation orders in the marine sector were up

Swiss power and automation technology company ABB had profits slip to $759 million on revenues of $9.7 billion in the third quarter of the year compared with $790 million in profits and $9.3 billion in revenues in the same period last year, saying it was a "solid performance in an uncertain market."

"We're encouraged that we could grow the business and sustain profitability well within our target corridor despite a challenging macro environment," said CEO Joe Hogan.

"We continued to execute on cost reduction and grow the service business, two of our key strategic initiatives.

"The geographic rebalancing of our automation business towards North America, for example through the Thomas & Betts acquisition, is also paying off."

ABB said its automation orders in the marine and mining sectors grew while those in the oil and gas sectors declined.

A "large marine order in Brazil" helped boost its results for the Americas, it said, while European orders held steady and those in Asia declined.

ABB said its short-term outlook is clouded by uncertainty in Europe, emerging markets and the U.S., but the longer-term outlook is more favorable thanks to "megatrends" like the need for greater resource efficiency, urbanisation of developing markets and the demand for more volume, efficiency, and reliability in power delivery.

Over the last two months, ABB announced that it had won an order for systems to be used in a new icebreaker vessel in Russia, delivered four propulsion systems for wind turbine installation vessels to be used in Singapore, and launched a new marine advisory and automation system it says can reduce fuel use by up to 20 percent.