Sweden's Hexagon gets boost from sales growth; costs and currency weigh on profit
23/04/2026 10:16
April 23 (Reuters) - Sweden's Hexagon HEXAb.ST reported a slight rise in its first-quarter earnings on Thursday, held back by currency effects, tariffs and higher input costs, while stronger-than-expected organic sales growth drove the industrial technology group's shares 3% higher. "Going forward we aim to mitigate these pressures through pricing, with actions already taken in the quarter," CEO Anders Svensson, who took the helm in July last year, said in a statement. The maker of measurement and positioning systems posted adjusted operating profit from continuing operations, which excludes soon-to-be-spun-off Octave, of 251.3 million euros ($294.2 million). That was below the average estimate of 331.4 million euros from 10 analysts polled by LSEG, but in line with a separate consensus compiled by Modular Finance, cited by J.P. Morgan. Organic revenue growth was 8%, driven by strength across businesses, which the brokerage said was clearly stronger than expected Autonomous Solutions unit saw 13% organic growth and Manufacturing Intelligence grew 9%, boosted by strong aerospace and defence demand Underlying gross margin, excluding divested business, fell 60 basis points to 62.0% due to higher costs and currency translation Svensson said Hexagon entered Q2 "with confidence", while warning of uncertainty in key markets, like mining and agriculture, and continued cost pressure Cost-cutting programme, launched in October, is progressing well, with a current savings run rate of 51 million euros Spin-off and listing of Octave on track, with a record date for the distribution expected on May 22 ($1 = 0.8543 euros) (Reporting by Marta Frąckowiak in Gdansk; Editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak) ((marta.frackowiak@thomsonreuters.com))