Swedish engineering group Alfa Laval fell sharply on the Stockholm Stock Exchange on Tuesday, following the announcement of a lower-than-expected fourth-quarter operating result.
Shares in the heat exchange and fluid transfer specialist are currently down 2.8%, while the European sector index, the STOXX Europe 600 Industrial Goods & Services, is down 0.6%.
Order intake rose by 7% in the fourth quarter, reaching SEK 16.9 billion, 2% ahead of expectations.
While sales also rose by 7% to 17.8 billion, again exceeding analysts' expectations, earnings before interest and taxes (EBITA) at 2.8 billion were below consensus.
Alfa Laval, whose products are used in both the food and shipbuilding industries, announced that its dividend would be increased to 7.50 crowns, up from six crowns in 2022, while warning that demand in the first quarter would be 'somewhat lower' than in the fourth quarter.
Copyright (c) 2024 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.
Alfa Laval AB specializes in the design, manufacturing and marketing of equipment and industrial systems for heating, cooling, separating and transporting of substances (oil, water, chemical and food substances, drinks, drugs, etc.). The activity is organized mainly arounf two families of products:
- solid and liquid treatment systems: systems for cooling, evaporation, extraction, drying, etc. intended primarily for the food processing, pharmaceutical, petrochemical, and energy sectors;
- production process equipment: decanters, heat exchangers, pumps, valves, air and liquid filtration systems, etc.
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: Sweden (2.2%), Europe (32.5%), China (14.1%), South Korea (5.5%), Asia (18.2%), United States (16.7% ), North America (2.1%), Latin America (5.6%), Africa (1.9%) and Oceania (1.2%).
ALFA LAVAL AB 
