Austrian hydropower equipment specialist Andritz has reported a strong performance for the first nine months of 2010. This helped to boost its share price by 11.1% to more than €61 each by the end of the month.
Andritz, which supplies plants and services to pulp and paper, metals and other specialised industries as well as hydropower, saw most of its businesses do well during Q3 2010. The exception was the metals business, which continues to be affected by difficulties in the international steel industry.Third quarter revenues were €897 million, an increase of some 19% over Q3 2009. Sales generated by the group’s hydropower business increased by 13.1% over Q3 2009 to €381 million.
Total sales for the nine months to the end of September were €2.5 billion compared with €2.3 billion for Q1-Q3 2009. Net income for the group during the first three quarters came in at €115 million, almost double that achieved in the first nine months of 2009 (Q1-Q3 2009: €59.6 million).
Vienna Stock Exchange-listed Andritz also reported that its order backlog at the end of September amounted to €5.5 billion, which represents an increase of 21.3% over the same time last year. Order intake in the group’s hydropower business area during the three months to 30 September increased by 20.8% over Q3 2009 to €391.4 million.
The company said that it expects solid project activity to continue into 2011.
Andritz received a further boost to its shares after the group announced that its offer to finance a bailout plan for AE&E Austria was approved. Based in Graz and Vienna, AE&E has annual sales of up to €300 million. The deal sees Andritz take over the business, which should strengthen and complement its product range in its pulp & paper and environment & process business areas.
The firm also signed a contract at the beginning of November to acquire RITZ Pumpenfabrik, a German manufacturer of pumps used in the water supply and mining sectors, as well as in offshore and subsea applications. This business generates annual sales of around €40 million.
Market: Vienna
Symbol: ANDR
Price: €65.96
12-month high/low: €67.50/€43.31
Market cap: €3.2 billion
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