Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
Finland-based supplier Metso, which last year decided to put its mining division in the back burner due to weak sales, posted Friday a lower-than-expected quarterly profit and new orders.
The company’s adjusted earnings before interest, tax and amortization were 28% lower than a year ago at 56 million euros ($63 million).
New orders dropped 10% to 663 million euros, compared to analysts’ average expectations of 679 million euros.
Metso expects mining equipment demand to remain weak this year.
Metso, which also makes valves and pumps for the oil and gas industry, said it expects mining equipment demand to remain weak, but said its other products and services should have a “satisfactory” year.
As most mining suppliers, Metso has been hit hard by a sustained commodity rout. As a result, the company began last year a major restructuring aimed to switch the Metso’s emphasis from mining equipment manufacturing to sales of services and flow-control equipment, which together account for roughly 85% of its revenue.
The Finnish company is not the only one suffering the impacts of spending cuts among miners in the last three years. Its peers in a Nordic cluster of mining gear suppliers, including Sweden’s Atlas Copco, Sandvik, and Denmark’s FLSmidth have also been squeezed by it.
2 Comments
Bruksmentalitet
The name of the swedish company is Atlas Copco, not Atlas Corp.
Bruksmentalitet
Same error here: http://www.mining.com/panama-papers-links-metso-alleged-sales-fraud/