Metso ‘cancels’ market outlook statement
31 March 2020
Finland-based equipment manufacturer Metso has found it necessary to revise its market outlook statement issued in February, citing uncertainty during the Coronavirus outbreak as the reason.
The company said it will publish a new statement, taking the effect of COVID-19 into account, in its Interim Review for the first quarter of 2020, which will be published on May 7.
Metso said: “Due to the current market uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Metso has decided to cancel its market outlook statement dated February 6, 2020.
”During February, our operations in China were largely impacted by the Coronavirus situation. The Chinese factories were nevertheless restarted successfully during the month and are now running at the normal capacity. The order intake from China in the first quarter is estimated to be on the planned level, while sales in China will be lower than planned, having a minor impact on Metso’s financial performance.
“The quickly enforced measures to contain the spreading of the virus in various countries around the world are limiting the mobility of workforce and have started to have an impact on our field service operations recently. Currently, Metso’s operations especially in India, Peru and South Africa are affected by the restrictions imposed by governments. If prolonged for several weeks, the restrictions might also affect supply chain activities.
“Under these circumstances, Metso will continue to focus on the safety of its personnel and customers, as well as leveraging its global operations to provide a maximum flexibility to ensure continuation of its own and its customers’ operations. Simultaneously, the company continues to prepare actions to adapt to short-term challenges in various locations and focus on cost control and cash flow.”
In the February statement, CEO Pekka Vauramo described 2019 as a “historic and transformative year”, with Metso Corporation’s year-on-year sales up 15% to over €3.6 billion (US$4 billion) and operating profit also increased.
At that time, Metso said: “Market activity in both segments, Flow Control and Minerals, is expected to remain at the current level in both the equipment and services.”
Today’s announcement confirmed that sales during January and February were in line with the outlook statement before the global impact of Coronavirus took effect this month.
