Faced with the impact of the coronavirus crisis and the drop in oil prices, Sulzer will restructure its activities related to this latter sector.
Providing 60 million francs for this purpose, the Zurich industrial group is now counting on a half-yearly net profit significantly lower than in 2019.
Details of the measures implemented in the oil and gas activities, including the production of equipment for refineries, will be revealed in parallel to the group’s half-yearly performance on July 24, the established company wrote on Friday. in Winterthur.
When the first partial was published, Sulzer had suggested that the impact of the pandemic should be felt in the second quarter. The company anticipated in particular a drop in investment spending in the petroleum industry, one of its main outlets, due to the fall in the price of black gold.
Sulzer also expected to suffer at the level of its other activities because of the economic slowdown. In order to cope with the situation, the group had announced a reduction of 60 million in its own capital expenditure and a cut of 60 million also in terms of operating expenses.
Between January and the end of March, the industrial conglomerate garnered orders exceeding analysts’ expectations. Orders grew organically by 3.2% year-on-year to 993.8 million francs, with all of the group’s divisions showing good resistance. Sales fell 2.2% due to temporary site closings in China and India.
The Winterthur group had in the process abandoned its annual targets, now however the payment of a dividend of 4 francs per share for 2019.
/ ATS
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