Sandvik's Q3 profit lags forecast, shares fall

By Marta Frackowiak and Marie Mannes

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Swedish metal-cutting tools and mining equipment maker Sandvik on Monday posted a smaller than expected rise in third-quarter core profit and a decline in order intake.

The company's quarterly adjusted operating profit grew to 5.82 billion Swedish crowns ($527.81 million) from 5.52 billion a year earlier but lagged the mean forecast in an LSEG poll of analysts of 5.97 billion crowns.

Sandvik said it continued to see solid, broad-based demand in aerospace, with stable development in the automotive sector. However, the demand in general engineering was subdued, it said, pointing to a softer market and de-stocking dynamics.

"We have seen weakening market dynamics in some of our customer segments leading to lower volumes," CEO Stefan Widing said in a statement.

Order intake for the quarter fell by 1% to 28.93 billion crowns from 29.23 billion a year ago, excluding acquisitions the orders declined by 7%, Sandvik said.

Jefferies said the quarterly order intake was a 5% miss compared to the consensus, noting that mining demand was normalising.

The company shares fell over 3% initially, to trade 1.5% lower at 1016 GMT at 182.4 crowns per share.

The CEO said in a call to journalists that the company had managed to offset rising inflation so far, but expected it to continue to be a challenge in the following year and also saw higher labour costs for 2024.

($1 = 11.0266 Swedish crowns)

(Reporting by Marta Frąckowiak, Louise Rasmussen and Marie Mannes; editing by Terje Solsvik and David Evans)