Switzerlands ABB, a multinational power and automated equipment manufacturer, has posted a 21% year-on-year decrease in its third quarter earnings as Chinas economic slowdown and the global fall in oil prices has served to drag down revenues.
The company posted profits for the quarter of $577 million, down from $734 million in Q3 2014, while revenue dropped 13% to $8.52 billion, down from $9.82 billion last year.
ABBs inverter sector, however, bucked this wider downward trend as the company managed to increase its market share in a handful of key and growing markets, not least India where ABB recently surpassed a 2 GW installation milestone.
More widely, ABBs contraction can be laid at the door of the slowdown in economic growth of the BRIC nations, which has served to squeeze the profits of many similar multinationals including Siemens and Caterpillar.
ABBs new Power Grid division, which includes inverters for the solar industry, looked in good fettle, and has been created as part of a streamlining of the companys business silos, which has forced ABB to lower its revenue growth target to the range of 3% to 6%, down from 4% to 7%.
"Our Q3 results reflect the challenging markets we face," said Ulrich Spiesshofer, ABBs CEO. "Short-cycle demand in oil and gas, China and the U.S. was down and the orders compare to a strong Q3 2014 when we won a record amount of large orders in Power Systems and Process Automation."
In 2016, ABB will introduce its REACT battery storage system into various solar markets across the globe.
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