“This activity is in good shape and solid enough to stand on these two feet,” said Morten Wielod, the director general of ABB, at a conference call, stressing that once separated, it will be able to make its own investment decisions, without being “in competition for capital” with the other activities of the group.
The division manufactures industrial robots, especially for the automotive sector, and employs nearly 7,000 people. It is based in particular on three major production centers, in Sweden, China and the United States. In 2024, its sales rose to $ 2.3 billion (2 billion euros), or around 7% of ABB turnover. The group has not yet decided on which market it will be listed, but assesses “several options”, explained Morten Wierod.
A “prudent” decision
The group aims to pay the stock market during the second quarter of 2026. The operation will be done through a distribution of shares of the new entity to the shareholders of ABB, the group said without providing all the details at this stage.
The group therefore uses the same process as for the Accelleron split, which brought together its turbochargers, from which it separated in October 2022, notes Bernd Laux, analyst at the Cantonal Bank of Zurich, in a market note.
In the first exchanges, the ABB action won more than 5% but then sold part of its earnings. At 12:30 p.m. GMT, the title appreciated 0.91% to 41.98 Swiss francs, while SMI, the reference index of the Swiss Stock Exchange, dates back 0.10%.
In a market commentary, Baader Europe analysts judge this decision “prudent” because “despite its strengths”, this division has weighed on the performance of the group “in the last two to three years”.
The demand had been “unusually volatile” after the COVVI-19 pandemic, ABB recognized in the press release. The tensions in the supply chains had first pushed its customers to inflate their orders to ensure that they receive the robots they needed for their factories, but they had then reduced them when the production chains had returned to order.
Growth forecast maintained
The group now notes normalization. In the first quarter, sales of its robot activities flexed 11% excluding exchange effects, but order books were reversed, climbing 17% compared to the same period a year earlier, despite a context that is still difficult in the automotive industry. In this sector, demand was however supported by its equipment to paint vehicles.
For the first quarter, ABB published a better net profit than expected, up 22% over one year, to $ 1.1 billion, thanks to real estate gains. Analysts interviewed by the Swiss agency AWP awaited him on average at $ 951 million.
Its quarterly turnover increased by 1%to $ 7.9 billion while its orders increased by $ 9.2 billion. ABB has maintained its growth forecast for 2025, still tabling on an increase in “average for a figure” sales, around 5%, recognizing, however, that the economic environment is more uncertain.
Between 75% and 80% of its production sold in the United States is manufactured on site. The rest comes mainly from Canada, Mexico and Europe, but almost no China for products sold in the United States, said the boss of ABB.
