ABB shares slide

Manufacturing News, Source : British Industry
Published : 22 Oct 2002 10:12

The value of shares in Swiss-Swedish engineering firm ABB have been halved after the crisis-beset company warned late last night that its markets would be becalmed until late next year.

ABB's announcement that it would miss its profit targets - it did not choose to set new ones - triggered massive selling, both on US markets overnight and in Zurich this morning. By 0810 GMT the share price had fallen by 47 per cent to 2.85 Swiss francs - a new all-time low.

More bad news came with an alert that a US unit could go bust due to the burden of potential liabilities in a series of enormous asbestos lawsuits.

Chairman Juergen Dormann said that summer of 2003 was now the earliest likely date for the turnaround to materialise, as a cost reduction programme - involving as many as 12,000 job cuts - was moving more slowly than hoped.

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