Assa Abloy, the world leader in door opening solutions, lost over 2% on the Stockholm Stock Exchange on Wednesday following the publication of lower-than-expected quarterly results.
The Swedish group's operating profit came in at 5.72 billion crowns in the fourth quarter, compared with 5.15 billion a year ago, below the consensus expectation of around 5.80 billion.
CEO Nico Delvaux emphasized that the company had succeeded in achieving record results for fiscal 2023 despite the slowdown in economic growth.
Fourth-quarter sales rose by 12% to 37 billion crowns, again in line with consensus, while organic growth remained limited to 0.4%.
The dividend will increase to 5.40 crowns per share, up from 4.80 crowns in 2022, a payment to be made in two instalments.
Assa Abloy shares lost 2.1% following this publication, but the stock had gained nearly 32% last year, significantly outperforming its benchmark index, the Nasdaq OMX Stockholm, up 18% in 2023.
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Assa Abloy AB is the world's leading manufacturer of locking systems. Net sales break down by family of products as follows:
- security doors and systems (47.1%): shielded and automatic doors, magnetic card locking systems (for use by hotels) and security systems for parking meters, slot machines), etc.;
- electronic and electromechanical locking systems (30%): access codes, electronic locks, etc.;
- mechanical locking systems (22.9%): locks, padlocks, bolts, etc.
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: Europe (32.4%), North America (51.7%), Asia (7.4%), Oceania (4%), Americas (3.3%) and Africa (1.2%).