International credit rating agency S&P Global Ratings (Standard & Poor's Ratings Services) has announced that it has revised its outlook on Swedish high-technology engineering and steelmaking group Sandvik to positive from negative and affirmed its ‘BBB’ corporate credit rating.
S&P stated that the outlook revision and rating affirmation on Sandvik reflect S&P’s expectation that the company’s credit ratios will continue to improve over 2017, supported by strengthened profitability as well as management's plans to dispose of non-core assets and use the proceeds to lower debt. S&P also notes that the company improved its profitability in 2016 beyond S&P’s previous expectations, despite a period of softer demand. The outlook change is further based on the credit rating agency’s expectation that management will continue to focus on debt reduction.