(Reuters) -Finnish elevator and escalator maker Kone on Friday said it expected 2024 sales to be stable or to grow slightly from last year’s level on the back of strong order growth.
Its 2023 sales reached 10.95 billion euros ($11.86 billion), slightly below analysts’ estimate of 11.01 billion in a poll provided by the company.
“We regained momentum in orders received, our sales grew by 5% at comparable exchange rates in a challenging market,” CEO Philippe Delorme said in an annual earnings statement, adding Kone also improved its profitability with good cash conversion.
In the fourth quarter, Kone’s sales grew by 0.7% at comparable exchange rates to 2.81 billion euros, while orders received increased by 10.5% to 2.05 billion on the same basis.
Kone’s shares were up around 2% in early trading as the quarterly orders beat market expectations.
“All of this gives us a solid starting point for 2024,” Delorme said.
Kone expects improvements in adjusted operating profit (EBIT) margin to continue in 2024, albeit with less tailwinds than last year.
Its fourth-quarter adjusted EBIT fell to 358.6 million euros, missing analysts’ estimate of 375.6 million.
This corresponded to a margin of 12.8%, which was up from 12.5% a year earlier.
Kone, which makes about a third of its sales in China, said weak consumer sentiment had continued to weigh on demand in China in the fourth quarter.
Strong demand in India and Southeast Asia meanwhile boosted activity for the rest of the Asia-Pacific region, it added.
($1 = 0.9233 euros)
(Reporting by Elviira Luoma in Gdansk; editing by Milla Nissi)
