By Bartosz Dabrowski and Bernadette Hogg
(Reuters) -Swiss lift- and escalator maker Schindler said on Thursday it was more confident of securing increased orders in North America, as it reaffirmed its full-year guidance of low single-digit revenue growth in local currencies.
“We have accelerated our modernisation business and enhanced our offering,” CEO Silvio Napoli told a conference call, adding that the future looked better than the past had been in some markets, including the United States.
Schindler now expects revenue from its North America modernisation business to grow by 5% to 10% this year, compared to 0-5% previously.
“There is demand in the U.S. … for even new equipment for high quality new buildings,” Napoli said in an interview with Reuters. He added that demand in the region could be coming back sooner than the company expected even two months ago.
Shares in the company were up around 4% by 1120 GMT.
Schindler said new installations fell globally, notably in China, while growth continued in its modernisation and service units, which focus on renovation and maintenance.
The only region where all three units grew was Asia Pacific, excluding China.
The liftmaker is less exposed to China than its competitors, generating about 15% of its revenue last year from the country.
Revenue of 2.79 billion Swiss francs ($3.2 billion) in the third quarter missed analysts’ expectations of 2.84 billion in a poll compiled by Vara Research. However, it grew 2.6% excluding the foreign exchange effect.
Its quarterly order intake of 2.71 billion francs came in above the consensus. Analysts expected an order intake of 2.67 billion francs.
Schindler said it intends to launch a share buyback programme of up to 500 million francs, expected to start in November 2024 and to run until November 2026 at the latest.
($1=0.8659 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Bartosz Dabrowski and Bernadette Hogg in Gdansk; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Janane Venkatraman and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
