Swedish metal-cutting and mining equipment maker Sandvik reported on Monday a bigger drop than expected in first-quarter core profit and said demand was mixed in the period.
Operating profit before amortization and items affecting comparability was 5.28 billion crowns ($483.64 million) against a year-earlier 6.12 billion and a mean forecast in an LSEG poll of analysts of 5.69 billion, on a sales drop before acquisitions of 5%.
Items affecting comparability, mainly restructuring costs, totalled a negative 2.51 billion crowns.
“The first quarter showed a mixed picture and was adversely impacted by calendar and timing effects,” CEO Stefan Widing said in a statement.
Demand was good from the mining and aerospace sectors while demand for its general engineering products was mixed, he said.
Order intake excluding acquisitions was down 5%, at 32.0 billion crowns, just beating the 31.5 billion expected by analysts.
Shares in the company were down 3% at 0948 GMT.
Sandvik had announced in January that it would book a 2.4 billion cost in the quarter for a new restructuring program that aims to generate annual savings of 1.2 billion crowns.
($1 = 10.9171 Swedish crowns)
(By Marie Mannes; Editing by Anna Ringstrom)
