Atlas Copco sees weaker customer activity in near term after Q3 profit miss
Q3 orders slighlty below estimates
Expects somewhat weaker customer activity ahead
Market conditions difficult to predict - CEO
Adds background in paragraphs 5, 7-8, adds analyst comments in 9
STOCKHOLM, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Swedish industrial groupAtlas Copco ATCOa.ST warned of weakened customeractivity in the near term as it posted lower-than-expectedorders and adjusted operating profit for the third quarter on Wednesday.
"The current market conditions come with a level of hesitancy and unpredictability," said CEO Vagner Rego, who took over the top position in May after Mats Rahnstorm resigned.
Operating profit before items affecting comparability fell to 9.44 billion crowns ($891.5 million) from a year-earlier 10.1 billion, below a mean forecast of 9.83 billion in an LSEG poll of analysts.
Order intake slipped to42.1 billion crowns from 42.6 billion a year earlier, the maker of air treatment systems, construction gear and power tools said, whileanalysts had expected a rise to 43.5 billion.
The market had earlier in the year been optimistic of a long-awaited semiconductor recovery which could help Atlas' vacuum business that has in the past few years dented the group's results.
Atlas Copco said its vacuum technology business saw increased orders in the third quarter of the yearamid stronger demand from the semiconductor and flat panel industries.
But in October Europe's biggest computer chip equipment maker, ASML, lowered its sales forecast for 2025, as it cited sustained weakness in parts of the semiconductor industry, leading to market uncertainty.
The vacuum business, which competes with the likes of Pfeiffer Vacuum PV.DE, is an important indicator for Atlas as it typically offers a forward-looking gauge of demand for the broader group.
The guidance is "not necessarily a surprise", J.P. Morgan said in a note to clients, as the broker had expected Atlas Copco to guide for either unchanged or somewhat weaker customer activity.
The company's shares were flat at 1130 GMT.
($1 = 10.5892 Swedish crowns)
Reporting by Boleslaw Lasocki and Marie Mannes; editing by Anna Ringstrom, Milla Nissi and Chizu Nomiyama
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