Epiroc order intake disappoints, shares drop 4%

By Marie Mannes

(Reuters) -Sweden's Epiroc reported weaker-than-expected order intake on Wednesday, sending shares in the mining gear maker down 4% after it posted third-quarter earnings in line with forecasts.

Excluding Russia, order intake rose 5% organically to 13.32 billion crowns in the quarter, but still lagged the 13.53 billion expected by analysts in a Refinitiv poll.

The maker of drill rigs, loaders and haulers removed 1 billion crowns worth of orders from its books after halting business in Russia in March.

Russia represented 6% of Epiroc's revenue in 2021 and was its sixth largest market ahead of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

"The weaker order intake is the reason for the downturn," Pareto Securities analyst Anders Roslund said.

In contrast, Epiroc's domestic rival Sandvik last week reported its order bookings being lifted on the back of strong demand.

Epiroc said in its report that it expected near-term demand to remain at a high level, which it also stated in its second quarter report.

Shares in Epiroc, which spun out of industrial group Atlas Copco in 2018, fell after the results, trading down 4% at 1048 GMT after being up 1.2% ahead of the report.

Its operating profit in the quarter rose to 2.90 billion Swedish crowns ($265.9 million) from 2.35 billion crowns a year ago, in line with the 2.87 billion expected by analysts in a Refinitiv poll.

($1 = 10.9069 Swedish crowns)

(Reporting by Marie Mannes and and Louise Breusch Rasmussen, additional reporting by Greta Rosen Fondahn, editing by Terje Solsvik and Jason Neely)