ABB Ltd, the technology firm with Swedish-Swiss roots, reported a 13% decrease in net income attributable for the first quarter. The company earned $905 million, dipping down from a $1.04 billion recorded during the same period in the previous year.
The figure for basic earnings per share also dropped by 12%, moving down from $0.56 to $0.49 year-on-year. Despite this, ABB witnessed an 11% gain in Operational EBITA—Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, and Amortization, hinting at operational growth, coming in at $1.42 billion.
Revenues recorded little to no fluctuation. The firm earned $7.87 billion, almost maintaining the $7.86 billion it garnered in the previous year. On a comparable basis, revenues did show a marginal 2% increase. This growth comes equally from price hikes and volume increases.
However, there was a marked 5% decrease in orders, which stood at $8.97 billion. The previous year's figure was $9.45 billion.
Moving forward, ABB projects a mid-single-digit comparable revenue growth year-on-year in the second quarter. The company also expects the Operational EBITA margin to be slightly higher than the figure reported for the first quarter of 2024.
For the 2024 fiscal year, ABB expects comparable revenue growth to hover around the 5% mark. An operational EBITA margin of about 18% is now forecasted by the firm, an increase from the previously projected figure of 16.9% from 2023.
