Scott Olson, Getty Images
Industryweek 9129 071715electroluxappliance2ndquarter

Electrolux Quarterly Profits Surpass Expectations

July 17, 2015
The appliance giant grew 7% during the second quarter — all of it organic, according to the company — despite the Department of Justice blocking its planned acquisition of GE's appliance division.

STOCKHOLM — Appliance giant Electrolux announced higher-than-expected profits and healthy growth for the second quarter, despite its recent U.S. acquisition setback.

“During the second quarter 2015, Electrolux achieved an organic growth of 7%, to which all six business areas contributed positively,” company chairman Keith McLoughlin said in a statement announcing quarterly profits of 608 million krona ($70.85 million) compared to a 92 million krona ($10.72 million) loss the previous period. “The financial performance in the group’s largest business area, Major Appliances EMEA, continued to strengthen year-over-year.”

Electrolux’s second quarter operating profit, meantime, rose to 921 million krona ($107.32 million), far surpassing the 800 million krona ($93.22 million) average forecast by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

The positive financial announcement contrasts the negative news that Electrolux received earlier in July, when U.S. anti-trust authorities filed suit to block the company’s planned $3.3 billion purchase of General Electric’s appliance division.

The legal opposition by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) represents a formidable threat to Electrolux’s plans to muscle-up with a huge North American acquisition.

The company said it will fight the move in U.S. courts, and on Friday, McLoughlin — an American citizen — renewed that pledge.

“Electrolux does not agree with the DOJ’s assessment that the acquisition will harm competition and will vigorously contest this effort by the DOJ to oppose the transaction,” McLoughlin said. “The review of the proposed acquisition will now continue in a court procedure.”

Traders on the Stockholm stock market responded to the effervescent second quarter result by sending Electrolux share prices up 2.76% in mid-morning deals. 

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2015

Popular Sponsored Recommendations

Why DataOps may be the key to unlocking the full potential of digital transformation

Nov. 3, 2023
Read the 2023 market survey conducted by IndustryWeek

Shifting Your Business from Products to Service-Based Business Models: Generating Predictable Revenues

Oct. 27, 2023
Executive summary on a recent IndustryWeek-hosted webinar sponsored by SAP

How Manufacturers Can Optimize Operations with Weather Intelligence

Nov. 2, 2023
The bad news? Severe weather has emerged as one of the biggest threats to continuity and safety in manufacturing. The good news? The intelligence solutions that build weather ...

Machine Learning and Predictive Analytics Guidebook for Engineers

Sept. 27, 2023
Leverage Domain Expertise to Drive Optimization – Without Needing a Data Scientist.

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of IndustryWeek, create an account today!