ZURICH (Reuters) – ABB said it was seeing strong demand for electrical products used by data centres needed for artificial intelligence on Thursday as it reported profit slightly ahead of forecasts.
The maker of industrial robots and electrification products said its fourth-quarter operational earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (operational EBITA) rose 8% to $1.43 billion.
The figure was slightly ahead of forecasts for $1.42 billion in a company-gathered consensus of analysts.
Sales for the period rose 4% to $8.59 billion, beating forecasts for $8.37 billion.
For the year as a whole, ABB’s revenue increased by 2%, while the company increased its operational EBITA margin to 18.1%, its highest-ever level.
Chief Executive Morten Wierod said market conditions remained “favourable,” with a good end to the year where orders increased by 7% during the fourth quarter.
“This was led by a very strong growth in the Electrification business area, with particularly high demand in the data centres and utilities segments as well as an overall positive development in the buildings segment,” Wierod said.
(Reporting by John Revill, Editing by Rachel More and Miranda Murray)
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