Atlas Copco Posts Record Solid Q3 Revenue and Record Operating Profit

Atlas Copco posted a 9 percent revenue increase in the third quarter with SEK 25.7 billion (about U.S. $3.1 billion), compared to SEK 23.6 billion in the third quarter a year ago.

Michael Roth

Oct. 21, 2015

2 min read

Despite softness in mining and oil and gas Atlas Copco posted record operating profit in the third quarter plus a 9percent revenue hike — Despite softness in mining and oil and gas, Atlas Copco posted record operating profit in the third quarter, plus a 9-percent revenue hike.

Atlas Copco posted a 9 percent revenue increase in the third quarter with SEK 25.7 billion (about U.S. $3.1 billion), compared to SEK 23.6 billion in the third quarter a year ago. The company reported growth in the service business, stable industrial demand, but weak demand from mining and oil and gas-related segments. Operating profit was a company record SEK 5.3 billion, compared to SEK 4.14 billion a year ago.

Europe had the highest order increase, 7 percent in local currency, while markets such as China and Brazil were weak. Globally, orders declined 5 percent organically while revenues were flat.

“Sectors such as aerospace and automotive showed good demand demand for our industrial tools and assembly systems, but the mining and the oil and gas sectors were weak,” said Ronnie Leten, president and CEO of the Atlas Copco Group. “We are staying agile by focusing on efficiency while creating customer value by continuous innovations.”

Innovative products introduced during the quarter included productive electric assembly tools, a low-pressure rock drill for surface drilling applications, and a portable compressor for geothermal drilling applications that offers faster drilling and improved fuel efficiency.

Recent important events included the acquisitions of a U.S. specialty rental dryer business, a Canadian compressor distributor and a U.K. process control expert. Atlas Copco inaugurated a vacuum solutions plant in China and was ranked the best industrial company on the environment by Newsweek magazine.

Atlas Copco is based in Stockholm, Sweden, with U.S. headquarters in Commerce City, Colo.

About the Author

Michael Roth

Editor

Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.