Machinery industry Sulzer with stable order intake in the first quarter
Order intake at industrial group Sulzer stagnated in the first quarter of 2025. This was due to the Chemtech division, which had benefited from a number of large orders in the first quarter of 2024.
15.04.2025, 07:39
SDA
Order intake remained stable at CHF 1.02 billion in the first three months of the financial year. The impact of currency, acquisition and divestment effects was negligible, as Sulzer announced on Tuesday.
The recent pace of growth has thus come to a standstill. In the full year 2024, order intake increased by just under 11 percent overall, with a double-digit growth rate also achieved in the fourth quarter.
Analysts' expectations were missed, with the Flow and Chemtech divisions receiving fewer orders than forecast, while the service business performed better.
In the largest division, Flow Equipment, order intake rose by 4 percent to CHF 398 million. Sulzer points to the "continued good market dynamics" in the areas of energy, energy security and wastewater.
The Services division even increased its order intake by 8 percent to 392 million Swiss francs, which means that this business has practically caught up with the Flow division in terms of size. The strong growth was driven by all three regions, according to the report. However, the market position was strengthened in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region in particular, with growth of 15 percent.
Chemtech lacked major orders
In contrast to the other divisions, orders in the Chemtech division fell by 18% to CHF 230 million. According to Sulzer, there was a lack of large orders in the Mass Transfer Components and Services units, particularly from China. Order intake in the System Solutions division was also lower following a major order for a biopolymer plant from India in the previous year.
In geographical terms, orders also developed differently. While EMEA saw an increase of one third, orders from North and South America were down 1 percent and orders from the Asia/Pacific region fell by as much as a third.
The forecast for the full year 2025 communicated in February 2025 remains unchanged despite the increasing economic uncertainties, as Sulzer writes. Accordingly, currency-adjusted, organic growth in order intake of between 2 and 5 percent and in sales of 5 to 8 percent is still expected, as well as an increase in the EBITDA margin to around 15 percent.
