Schneider Electric Ups Guidance as First Half Profit Doubles

Schneider Electric, world’s largest manufacturer of circuit breakers, has reported that its first-half profits have more than doubled; beating expectations and the company is now raising its guidance for the full year.

The company’s profits surged to EUR 735 million as compared to EUR 346 million from last year, sales increased by 10.5% to EUR 8.57 billion from EUR 7.76 billion a year earlier. Schneider comfortably beat the analyst expectations of EUR 562.6 million profits for the first half of the year. Based on the strong margin improvement in first half, the company has now raised its annual target to 15.5% for year 2010.

Schneider is a major player in the European automation market along with Siemens and ABB. The company had a rough last year due to global recession and its aftermath on the construction industry, especially in Europe. However, Schneider is now looking ahead to a bright future with the worst behind it.

The company recently purchased the power-grid distribution unit of Areva SA to expand its energy efficiency portfolio. Schneider also announced its plans to setup a new ‘Centre of Excellence’ at Bangalore, India to tap the local engineering talent base.

Reference: Schneider Electric Website

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