Finnish mining and metal manufacturing equipment provider Outotec said today, October 18, that it has lowered its financial guidance regarding sales and operating profit margin for 2013 due to the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, which has slowed down customers' capex investments. Also some projects have progressed slower than expected due to delays in customer payments, the company said, adding that one project (EUR 30 million) in order backlog was cancelled in September. The lower sales volume is the main reason for lowering the operating profit margin guidance for 2013, according to the company statement.
Accordingly, Outotec now expects its sales to be approximately €1.9-2.1 billion, down from €2.1-2.3 billion and operating profit margin from business operations to be about 8.5-9.5 percent in 2013, down from 9.5-10.5 percent.
In the January-September period this year, Outotec's operating profit €122 million, while the company's sales revenues reached €1.45 billion. During the first nine months of the year, Outotec's order intake amounted to €1.61 billion.