On April 23, Finnish mining and metal manufacturing equipment provider Outotec issued its financial results for the first quarter of 2010, stating that its decline in sales was due to the low starting order backlog at the beginning of the year.
According to the financial results, the operating loss of the company was €10.1 million in the first quarter of 2010, compared with an operating profit of €16.3 million in the first quarter of 2009. Sales revenues in the first quarter of 2010 decreased 19 percent year on year from €231.6 million, to €187 million.
The company's order intake was €419.4 million compared to €139.3 million in the same period last year, increasing 201 percent.
Commenting on the outlook for 2010, the company said, "Due to the post-cyclical nature of Outotec's business and a low order intake in 2009, the year 2010 will be challenging. Based on the actual order intake during the first quarter, the management expects that in 2010 order intake will be significantly higher compared to 2009, sales will grow to approximately €1 billion due to the Larox and Ausmelt acquisitions and operating profit will remain at the same level as in 2009."