Schneider confirms 2014 forecasts after sales stabilise in Europe
PARIS (Reuters) - France's Schneider Electric stuck to its full-year forecasts on Wednesday after reporting a 7 percent rise in third-quarter sales and said Western Europe showed long-awaited but fragile signs of stabilisation.
The electrical equipment maker posted third-quarter sales of 6.285 billion euros (5 billion pounds), up 1.6 percent like-for-like and compared to a 1.1 percent drop in the second quarter.
Schneider, a bellwether of European industry, is the world's biggest maker of low-and-medium voltage equipment. It makes products that help carry electricity to buildings as well as automation systems for the car and water treatment industries.
Schneider said like-for-like sales in Western Europe, which account for around a quarter of its revenue, stabilized for the first time since the third quarter of 2011 despite persistently weak demand from utilities. They were up 8 percent on a reported basis and flat on a like-for-like basis.
"Over the quarter, we see Western Europe stabilizing, U.S. improving and China slowing down as expected, while other new economies show a mixed picture," said Chief Executive Jean-Pascal Tricoire in a statement.
"Looking ahead, we expect the environment to continue to be challenging. Our priorities remain organic growth, efficiency and integration of acquisitions and we maintain our full year 2014 targets."
The group expects low single-digit organic sales growth and a slightly improved EBITA margin.
(Reporting by Natalie Huet; Editing by Andrew Callus)
