(Reuters) - French electrical equipment producer Schneider Electric <SCHN.PA> on Thursday raised its forecasts for the current fiscal year, buoyed by growth across all of its businesses and the regions it operates in.
Although not entirely unexpected, this upgrade follows a series of positive events where Schneider surpassed its own targets and hiked its outlook this and last year.
The company said it now expects its adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) organic growth to be between 7 and 9 percent, an upgrade from "around 7 percent" initially, while it raised the full-year sales organic growth range to 5 to 6 percent from 3 to 5 percent before.
"In Q2, we accelerate both in growth and performance," Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Schneider's chairman and chief executive officer said in a statement.
"Our focused and synergetic portfolio continues to gain share, benefiting both our core businesses of Energy Management and Industrial Automation," he said.
"In H2 2018, the Group expects to benefit from its balanced exposure to end-markets and geographies," he added.
The recent acquirer of British Aveva <AVV.L> posted strong January-June results with adjusted EBITDA of 1.77 billion euros ($2.08 billion) on revenues of 12.32 billion euros, growing 7 percent organically, while its net income came in at 1.02 billion euros.
Although it crossed the 1 billion euro threshold for the first time in the company's history, net income missed market expectations, hit by restructuring charges and amortisation and depreciation of intangibles linked to acquisitions.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected an average organic sales growth of 6.24 percent to 12.31 billion euros with adjusted EBITDA at 1.78 billion and net income growing to 1.11 billion euros.
Asia Pacific region accounted for roughly 30 percent of the revenues and posted a double-digit growth as demand in China remained strong and the country's residential markets continued to grow.
The company's Medium Voltage business in the Energy Management division, a drag for the past couple of years, returned to growth as selectivity initiatives under the Medium Voltage Rebound programme completed.
(Reporting by Piotr Lipinski in Gdynia; Editing by Vyas Mohan)
