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UPDATE 1-Sapa Q3 profit up, strong euro worries

(Adds details, quotes in paras 1, 4, 7-8; updates share price in paragraph 10)

STOCKHOLM, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Swedish firm Sapa AB, which makes aluminium moulded shapes and heat exchanger strips for car radiators, said on Friday it was worried about the strengthening of the euro and it saw no quick rebound in demand.

"The demand for extruded profiles (moulded shapes) still does not show any sign of improvement, despite some positive economic data and at the same time the strengthened euro gives cause for some concern," Sapa said in its third-quarter report.

The currency effect chopped nine percent off Sapa's July-September operating profit, which nevertheless increased by one third to 151 million Swedish crowns ($19.63 million).

The report came ahead of third-quarter earnings due on October 23 from Sapa's main owner, Norwegian metals group Elkem , which holds 72 percent of Sapa's stock.

The dollar's slide reduced the aluminium metal price by 15 percent, said the company, whose deliveries totalled 240,390 tonnes in the January-September period, up from 215,150 tonnes in the first nine months of 2002.

Turnover increased 15 percent, partly as a result of an acquisition, to 3.03 billion crowns. Currency effects dented net sales by five percent, Sapa said.

The company said it saw no improvement in demand in its key markets in Europe or in North America.

"Leading indicators contain some positive signs, but it has not come through in any real intake of orders," Sapa Chief Executive Staffan Bohman told Reuters.

"There is a large degree of uncertainty and an upturn in the short term does not seem likely," the company said.

Sapa shares traded 2.9 percent higher at 175 crowns by 1115 GMT, outpacing the EuroStoxx industrials index , which was 0.3 percent higher.

(With additional reporting by Niklas Pollard)