ZURICH, Switzerland — ABB today reported its Q3 2023 results.
“Q3 2023 was a strong quarter for ABB including a positive book-to-bill ratio, Operational EBITA margin again above 17% and a strong cash flow delivery putting us in a good position to achieve an annual free cash flow of about $3 billion,” said Björn Rosengren, CEO.
1For a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures, see “supplemental reconciliations and definitions” in the attached Q3 2023 Financial Information.
2EPS growth rates are computed using unrounded amounts.
3Constant currency (not adjusted for portfolio changes).
4Amount represents total for both continuing and discontinued operations.
CEO summary
The third quarter developed largely as planned, and I am pleased about the comparable order growth of 2% supporting a book-to-bill ratio of 1.01. This means we delivered on our quarterly expectation of book-to-bill in positive territory, despite a double-digit comparable increase in revenues. We had yet another quarter with strong operational performance across the business areas, and this time coupled with a very strong cash flow generation, setting us up to achieve free cash flow of about $3 billion in 2023.
In total, Operational EBITA increased by 13% and we achieved an Operational EBITA margin of 17.4%, an improvement of 80 basis points from the corresponding period last year. This was supported by a strong price contribution which outweighed the impacts from inflation in labor costs, with additional support from efficient execution of higher volumes in production. It was good to see that our focus on cash conversion yielded results with Cash flow from operating activities at $1.4 billion, an increase of $560 million from last year supported mainly by higher earnings and better Net working capital management.
As in recent quarters, the order development was strong in the project- and systems-related businesses that is often linked to our various medium voltage offerings. This more than offset the impact from a decline in parts of the short-cycle businesses. In total, most customer segments remained overall stable or improved, with declines mainly noted in the discrete automation and construction segments. Order growth was strongest in business area Process Automation, supported by a strong underlying market and the added contribution from a large order amounting to approximately $285 million. In contrast, order intake in Robotics & Discrete Automation was hampered by customers normalizing order patterns in a period of shortening delivery lead times, with added pressure from inventory adjustments among robotics-related distribution channels in China.
From a geographical perspective, the Americas region was the growth engine for orders, driven by double-digit comparable growth in the United States and supported by the timing of large orders booked. Also, Asia, Middle East and Africa improved on a comparable basis where India noted yet another quarter with strong year-on-year development. In contrast, orders in China declined at a low single-digit comparable growth rate particularly hampered by weakness in robotics and construction demand. Outside of these segments and towards the end of the quarter we noted some indications of the underlying Chinese market stabilizing, although uncertainty is admittedly high. Europe declined to the tune of a low double-digit rate, and while the underlying market softened, the rate of decline was accentuated by a high comparable last year due to timing of larger orders booked.
Sustainability is embedded in everything we do, and I was pleased to see this being recognized by MSCI and the upgrade of ABB to the highest ESG rating of AAA, meaning we score in the top 10% of the peer universe.
During the quarter, Process Automation expanded its partnership with Northvolt, providing electrification and automation technologies to power the world’s largest battery recycling facility, Revolt Ett. The recycling site will process 125,000 tons of end-of-life batteries and battery production waste each year – making it the largest plant of its kind in the world.
We recently took additional steps to support our customers on their journey towards more sustainable and flexible production with Robotics & Discrete Automation expanding its robot family with four models in 22 variants and energy savings of up to 20 percent. We have also announced our plans to invest $280 million in our Robotics business in Sweden. The site will serve as a European hub, and further strengthen our capabilities in serving our customers in Europe with locally manufactured products in a growing market. This is to replace the existing old robotics facilities at the site, and the new Campus is planned to open in late 2026.
To mark the completion of all divisional portfolio divestments announced at the end of 2020, we successfully closed the divestment of the Power Conversion division. Going forward we will continuously review the product groups within all divisions to optimize the portfolio as part of the ABB Way operating model.
Outlook
In the fourth quarter of 2023, we anticipate low- to mid single digit comparable revenue growth. Additionally, we expect the historical pattern to repeat with the Operational EBITA margin in Q4 to be sequentially lower from Q3, and to be around 16%.
In full-year 2023, we anticipate comparable revenue growth to be in the low teens range and we expect Operational EBITA margin to be in the range of 16.5% – 17.0%.
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