ABB wary of hailing recovery after first order growth since 2015

ZURICH, Switzerland (Bloomberg) -- ABB Ltd. said the first signs of order growth in two years are not enough to call a turnaround as dwindling demand from the oil and gas industry and an increasingly uncertain political situation weigh on the outlook.

Quarterly orders rose for the first time since the first three months of 2015, increasing 3% from a year ago, the Swiss maker of industrial robots and power systems said in a statement. Yet momentum ‘isn’t that strong yet,” CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer said on a call with journalists on Wednesday.

“We’ll absolutely sustain the ambition” to maintain growth, the CEO said. “What the markets give us, I can’t say in this uncertain world.”

The impact of weaker oil prices on the energy industry is one of the factors hampering Spiesshofer’s attempts to ramp up growth after years of restructuring. Increased uncertainty stemming from the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, as well as geopolitical tensions in other parts of the world are also overshadowing global markets, leading to what’s likely to be a “transitional year,” the company said.

Spiesshofer’s comments echo those of German rival Siemens AG, which last week also gave a cautious outlook for orders and warned that a fourth-quarter decline would extend into 2017. The shares fell 3.1% to 22.60 swiss francs as of 3:07 p.m. in Zurich, the steepest decline since Oct. 27. That values the company at 50 billion francs ($50.2 billion).