ABB受经济衰退打击，销售和利润下降，工作削减

转自：http://www.managingautomation.com/maonline/news/read/ABB_Battered_by_Recession_as_Sales_Profits_Fall_and_Workers_Are_Cut_32925

 

Abstract:    The automation company’s robotics division is hit hard, but leaders are optimistic for long-term growth in renewables and emerging markets.
Keywords:    ABB, automation vendor, automation market, manufacturing technology

 

The recession battered Swiss automation and engineering giant ABB inthe second quarter, as revenue fell 12% to $7.9 billion and net profitdropped by 31% to $675 million amid layoffs.

 

The company also signaled continued bumpiness as new orders for the quarter ended June 30 plunged 35% year over year to $7.3 billion.

 

“I can’t call the bottom of a market in our business right now,” CEO Joe Hogansaid on a conference call with journalists. He said the company’srobotics unit looks particularly vulnerable, as “both the automotiveand general industry markets have basically collapsed.” ABB plans tofurther restructure that division, but is still investing in roboticsproduct development, he said. Robotics is the only division that is noton target to meet its 2011 goals, the company said in a statement.

 

Company-wide, ABB spent $120 million on an ongoing, $1 billionrestructuring program in the second quarter, contributing to theprofits decline. Cuts have included plant closures and layoffs inEurope and North America as well as reduced working hours in variouslocations, Hogan and CFO Michele Demaré told journalists.

 

“We have [had] a significant amount of job reductions in thisbusiness over the last half a year, but we continue to not want topublish that — that’s something internal to ABB,” Hogan said on thecall. Both Hogan and Demaré said that cost-reduction efforts haveemphasized improvements in sourcing of materials and in general andadministrative expenses. ABB is targeting $2 billion in savings fromthe plan, which started in 2008 and runs through 2010. According toHogan, it removed $500 million of those costs in the first two quartersthis year.

 

ABB is pinning growth on selling equipment and automationtechnologies to the power sector, especially as buyers there strive forgreener operations. But even that plan looks tenuous in the near term.Although Hogan said that alternative energy sources and the efficientcombination of power networks and automation represent a promisingfuture, it’s “not something that will happen overnight.” The timescale,he said, is more like “several decades.”

 

But Hogan was optimistic that ABB would land a large powercontract this quarter and also said that emerging markets hold promise.The company in the second quarter landed notable contracts in India,Brazil, and Mexico, he said. Although orders declined 20% in China,Hogan was optimistic that the country’s stimulus package would generateABB sales in renewables.

 

At the end of the quarter, ABB’s net cash stood at $5.7 billion,up from $4.8 billion at the end of the previous quarter. Hogan said thecompany remains interested in acquisitions.

 

Meanwhile, ongoing investigationsby the U.S. Department of Justice, the European Commission, and variousantitrust authorities of suspect payments and alleged anti-competitivebehavior continue to cloud the company’s financial outlook. “Withrespect to these matters, there could be adverse outcomes beyond ourprovisions,” the company warned.

 

On a sector basis, revenue and orders dropped across the board:power products revenue by 6% to $2.8 billion and orders by 23% to $2.8billion; power system revenue by 7% to $1.6 billion and orders by 35%to $1.7 billion; and automation revenue by 20% to $2.2 billion andorders by 28% to $2.1 billion. Process automation revenue fell 9% to$1.9 billion and orders 50% to $1.3 billion; and robotics revenuedropped 44% to $234 million and orders fell 64% to $182 million.

On its balance sheet, ABB reconciles intracompany sales, a calculationthat reduced the sum of the divisions’ revenue by $841 million andorders by $818 million.