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UPDATE 2-Andritz Q2 profit drops, trough reached for pulp

Published 08/07/2009, 08:03 AM
UBSN
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* Q2 EBITA ex-charges 37 mln eur vs poll median 41 mln eur

* Results include 24 mln eur in restructuring charges

* Pulp & paper order will rise in H2 vs H1

* Shares pare losses on pulp order outlook, down 3.4 pct (Adds CEO quotes, analyst comment, details)

By Alexandra Schwarz

VIENNA, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Austrian machinery maker Andritz said on Friday second-quarter net profit dropped 83 percent, hit by a fall in revenues at all divisions but hydropower, and by restructuring charges.

Shares in the group fell as much as 6.7 percent but pared losses after its chief executive told Reuters that orders for pulp mill equipment would rise again in the second half of the year. They were down 3.4 percent at 31.49 euros by 1112 GMT.

Net profit for the group, which makes equipment for hydropower plants, pulp and steel mills, declined to 6.9 million euros ($9.9 million), including a 24 million euro charge for capacity adjustments, mainly in its pulp and paper business.

The result would have been much worse without the Andritz unit which makes turbines and generators for hydropower plants and which is defying the economic slump thanks to investments by power generators worldwide.

The units making machines for pulp mills used by paper producers and for steel mills are both highly geared to the global economic cycle and their revenue and order intakes accelerated their decline in the second quarter.

However, Andritz said it now expected some new projects for its pulp unit, which already booked a 160 million euro project in China just after the second quarter ended.

"We do expect some new projects in the pulp mill sector and expect that the order intake in the second half in the year will be quite a bit above that of the first half," Chief Executive Wolfgang Leitner said on the fringes of a news conference.

Analysts said this was a more upbeat tone than before.

"Andritz seems somewhat more optimistic about the outlook than three months ago," said J.P.Morgan analyst Andreas Willi in a note to clients.

However, new hydro orders will not keep up the first half's 37 percent growth rates in the second half, Leitner added.

UBS analyst Sven Weier said: "We think that Q2 should be the order trough and a material setback (of the share price) could be an interesting entry point."

Revenue declined by 13 percent, though it was propped up by its hydropower business, which raised revenue by 22 percent and overtook sales at the more cyclical pulp and paper arm, where revenue slumped by a third.

The trend showed even more clearly in its order intake, which declined by more than half for its pulp business, and by a staggering 82 percent for its unit supplying equipment for steel mills, while hydro raised new orders by 27 percent.

Andritz reiterated it expected revenue to decline by 15 percent this year and net profit to fall from last year's. (Reporting by Boris Groendahl, editing by Will Waterman and Rupert Winchester) ($1=.6954 Euro)

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