Schneider gets share boost from strong quarterly sales

French group Schneider, a leading international supplier of electrical equipment, reported strong growth in the third quarter on Wednesday, boosted by its acquisition of automation firm Invensys.
The group stood by its targets for the year after reporting that in the quarter, sales rose by 7.0 percent from the equivalent figure last year to 6.28 billion euros ($8.0 billion).
This was slightly better than the figure expected by analysts questioned by Bloomberg news agency, and over the first nine months of the year sales have risen by 4.5 percent.
Investors welcomed the performance and the price of shares in Schneider was showing an early gain of 3.33 percent to 60.83 euros.
The overall sales figure was held back by 1.4 percent by the effect of unfavourable exchange rates, a recurrent problem for the group. But Schneider said that this effect was less than had been expected because of the fall of the euro.
Finance director Emmanuel Babeau told AFP: "The currency effect is easing... and for the whole of the second half of this year we expect the effect to be zero or slightly positive."
The negative effect of exchange rates in the third quarter was more than offset by a contribution to activity of 6.8 percent from activities which the group has acquired, notably British industrial automation firm group Invensys at the end of 2013.
The group said that activity had grown on all of its markets, including in Europe where it achieved growth -- of 0.2 percent -- for the first time since the third quarter of 2011," Babeau said.
But this revival in Europe was "fragile" and did not necessarily mean that growth would continue.
The company expected rising activity in North America to go on expanding. This market accounts for a quarter of sales, notably in the sectors of equipment for the oil and gas industries, for data centres and for mechanical engineering businesses.
"Globally, the situation remains complicated and uncertain," Babeau said. Inflation was low, even amounting to deflation ad uncertainty hung over big projects. Many projects were being delayed.