Hoeganaes Q1 pretax rises on stronger margins - beats expectations |
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Published
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Wed, 18 Apr 2007 08:45
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STOCKHOLM (Thomson Financial) - Iron and metal powders producer Hoeganaes AB said first quarter pretax profits rose 15 pct to 172 mln skr, supported by stronger operating margins and firm sales growth.Market expectations were for a first quarter pretax profit of 146 mln skr, according to SME Direkt.Operating margin rose to 13.3 pct from minus 12.5 pct. Excluding earnings from currency forward contracts of 17 mln skr and one-off items of 2 mln skr, operating profits rose 13 pct to 169 mln skr.Sales amounted to 1.413 bln skr, up 8 pct from a year earlier, and above market expectations of 1.370 bln skr. Currency effects had a negative impact of 7 pct on sales.Hoeganaes said it expects to achieve continued positive volume progress in 2007.'Positive progress on the metal powder markets in Asia and South America is expected to continue. Weaker progress in North America is expected to persist, while the outlook for Europe, previously considered stable, is upgraded to positive,' the company said.It said it expects metal prices to are main volatile in 2007'.Hoeganaes said the trend towards smaller and more fuel-efficient vehicles in North America will continue to hamper the growth of metal powders sales.In the first quarter Hoeganaes's volumes increased 9 pct from a year earlier, and volume growth was generally positive on all markets apart from Japan, it said.TF.TFN-EuropeStockholm@thomson.comhc/lamCOPYRIGHTCopyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.
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