(Reuters) – Swiss elevator and escalator manufacturer Schindler reported on Thursday a 0.4% drop in third-quarter net profit year-on-year, citing rising costs and disruptions in global supply chains, and said the challenges would continue into the fourth quarter.
Higher raw materials prices, soaring cost inflation and supply chain bottlenecks made Schindler cautious about its 2021 results, even though the company’s operating result was back at pre-pandemic levels.
“Different recovery in some key markets combined with supply chain issues causes delays in construction activities”, Chief Executive Thomas Oetterli said on a statement on Thursday.
The company said it was monitoring latest developments in China property market more closely now, as the market which makes up 14% of Schindler sales is affected by efforts to manage the country’s property market.
Beijing has stepped up measures to rein in China’s property market this year, including upper limits on developers’ debt ratios and restrictions on purchases.
Schindler’s net profit came in at 234 million Swiss francs ($254.74 million), slightly below 235 million francs a year earlier, but beating the analysts’ estimates of 220 million francs.
The Swiss company’s order intake for the June-September period returned to pre-pandemic levels at 3.0 billion Swiss francs, above the 2.92 billion francs registered in the same period of 2019.
The company confirmed its full-year sales guidance, expecting a growth between 4-7%.
($1 = 0.9186 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Bartosz Dabrowski in Gdansk; Editing by Riham Alkousaa)
