November 20, 2008

Alstom Q1 sales up by 11%

French high speed train and industrial power plant group Alstom reported an 11% rise in Q1 sales to EUR 4.5 billion (USD 7.18 billion), meeting analysts expectations.

It confirmed its operating margin target for around 9% for the year ending March 2010. New orders were down by 14% to EUR 6.6 billion as the comparison with last year's first quarter was skewed by a large one off order.

Mr Patrick Kron chairman & CEO of Alstom said that there was no slowdown and that the company was conservative and only booked new orders when down payments had been made.

He added that the group is riding a wave of demand for big high speed train projects, such as the NTV venture in Italy launched on Tuesday and projects in Argentina and Morocco, as well as a boom in low CO2 emission electricity plants.

Mr Kron was quoted as saying in a statement that "Alstom continues to benefit from its good positioning on the growing markets of power generation and rail transportation: the level of orders recorded during the first quarter is strong, and the prospects continue to be very positive, with both the upcoming booking of the awarded projects and many new opportunities.”