Assa Abloy: first-quarter results, outlook disappoint

(CercleFinance.com) - Assa Abloy posted disappointing quarterly profits on Wednesday and forecast lower sales and margin, which sent the world's largest lock maker's shares down.


Net profit fell by 16% year-on-year to 1.86 billion Swedish kronor, as operating income (EBIT) fell by 15% to 2.75 billion kronor, the group said.

Quarterly net sales increased by 3% to 22.2 billion Swedish kronor, with an organic fall of 3%, it added.

"The Covid-19 crisis started in February with a significant effect on our operations and demand in China, which then spread to the rest of Asia and in March rapidly affected demand in the rest of the world", the company said in a statement.

With core markets still affected by Covid-19, in the coming months Assa expects its sales and operating margin to be "significantly lower" than in the first quarter.

Shares in Assa - down 14% year-to-date - fell 5% on Wednesday while the broader market in Stockholm was down up 0.3%.

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