In This Article:
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Comparable Orders: Increased by 5% from last year.
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Operational EBITA Margin: Achieved 20.2%, boosted by a one-time contribution of 170 basis points.
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Free Cash Flow: $652 million for the first quarter.
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Revenue: $7.9 billion with 3% comparable growth.
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Gross Margin: Improved by 280 basis points to 41.7%.
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Electrification Orders: Reached a new all-time high of $4.4 billion, up 2% on a comparable basis.
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Electrification Operational EBITA: $886 million with a margin of 23.2%.
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Motion Revenue: Increased by 3% in comparable terms to over $1.8 billion.
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Process Automation Orders: Increased by 23% year on year to $2 billion.
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Robotics and Discrete Automation Orders: Grew by 17%.
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Return on Capital Employed (ROCE): Reached 23%, improving 250 basis points from last year.
Release Date: April 17, 2025
For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.
Positive Points
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ABB Ltd (ABBNY) reported a strong start to the year with a 5% increase in comparable orders from last year.
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The company exceeded its own expectations for operational EBITA margin across all business areas, achieving a margin of 20.2% with a one-time boost.
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Free cash flow for the first quarter was $652 million, positioning the company well to improve annual free cash flow from last year's $3.9 billion.
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ABB Ltd (ABBNY) made significant progress towards sustainability targets, helping customers avoid 66 megatons of emissions in 2024.
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The acquisition of Siemens' Wiring Accessories business in China is expected to add $150 million in sales and enhance market reach across 230 cities.
Negative Points
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Revenue growth of 3% was below original expectations due to slower conversion of backlog and recent short cycle orders.
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The robotics and discrete automation division saw a decline in operational EBITA margin, although there was a positive sequential development.
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The company noted a slightly lower contribution from large orders, particularly in the rail segment.
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Economic uncertainty, particularly related to tariffs, poses a risk to the business environment and decision-making processes.
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The data center segment experienced slower activity from one major hyperscaler, impacting overall order growth in that sector.
Q & A Highlights
Q: Can you provide an update on the data center business, particularly regarding the impact of a large customer's pause in orders? A: Morten Wierod, CEO: Excluding the large customer, we saw mid-teens growth in the data center segment. We remain confident in the long-term growth of data centers, driven by the AI trend. However, we prefer not to speculate on individual customer performance and suggest referring to current news for updates.