New orders worth Euro 1,584 million were received in January–March 2013. Orders received by the services business were at a similar level to those in the 1Q 2012 and totaled Euro 873 million, i.e. 57% of all orders received.
Metso’s President and CEO Matti Kähkönen comments on the 1Q results: “1Q was two-fold for Metso. Firstly, as expected, demand for new equipment and projects remained similar to that seen in the previous quarter and below that in the 1Q 2012. Secondly, and even more importantly, Metso’s flexible business model and focus on its services business yielded a good operating result (EBITA) and an improved EBITA margin for the quarter, despite net sales coming in a little slower than in early 2012. The Mining and Construction and Automation segments recorded a strong improvement in their margins, and we expect these segments to perform well going forward. Pulp, Paper and Power, however, was weak, as had been expected. The challenges in this segment are known and we will continue our actions to improve profitability in the business. The results of this work, together with our slightly more optimistic view of the segment’s customer industries, are expected to be seen in better performance later this year”.
Metso is a global supplier of technology and services to customers in the process industries, including mining, construction, pulp and paper, power, and oil and gas.