ABB Q3 Profit Down; Appoints Nokia's Timo Ihamuotila As CFO, Effective April 1

(RTTNews) - Swiss engineering firm ABB Ltd.(ANN.L, ABB) reported Thursday that its third-quarter net income declined 2 percent to $568 million from last year's $577 million. Basic earnings per share, however, increased 2% to $0.27 from $0.26 last year.

Operational earnings per share were $0.32, same as last year.

Operational EBITA declined 3 percent to $1.05 billion, while Operational EBITA margin increased 0.1 percentage points to 12.6%.

Revenues declined 3 percent to $8.26 billion from $8.52 billion last year. On a comparable basis, revenues were flat.

Total orders declined 14 percent on a reported basis and 13 percent on a comparable basis to $7.53 billion, reflecting timing of large order awards and lower short cycle volumes. Base orders decreased 6 percent .

CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer said, "In the third quarter, we experienced significant macro uncertainties around Brexit and the US elections as reflected in the low order pattern. Orders in Power Grids were additionally dampened by the hesitation of customers prior to the Capital Markets Day."

Looking ahead, the company noted that macroeconomic and geopolitical developments are signaling a mixed picture with continued uncertainty. Some macroeconomic signs in the US remain positive and growth in China is expected to continue, although at a slower pace than in 2015. The market remains impacted by modest growth and increased uncertainties, e.g., Brexit in Europe and geopolitical tensions in various parts of the world. Oil prices and foreign exchange translation effects are expected to continue to influence the company's results.

Further, ABB announced the appointment of Timo Ihamuotila as Chief Financial Officer and member of the Executive Committee, effective April 1, 2017. Ihamuotila succeeds current CFO Eric Elzvik, who will pursue career opportunities outside of ABB after a thorough handover in the second quarter of 2017.

Ihamuotila joins ABB from Nokia Corp. (NOK), where he has been the Chief Financial Officer for the last seven years.