By Anna Peverieri
(Reuters) -Electrical equipment maker Schneider Electric cut its 2025 implied core profit margin outlook on Monday due to market volatility, after its sales missed market expectations in the first quarter.
Schneider Electric, which develops AI-related data centre cooling systems, now sees 2025 adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and amortization (EBITA) margin of between 18.7% and 19%, compared to its previous core profit margin expectation of between 19.2% and 19.5%.
“Recent macroeconomic and geopolitical developments have added a layer of uncertainty across all markets, including those we operate in, but we are confident in our structural growth drivers,” CEO Olivier Blum said in a statement.
The statement did not mention the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs where a lack of certainty created by their on-again-off-again nature has roiled global markets, destabilised the United States’ trading partners and left companies reassessing their operations.
Swiss industrial robot maker ABB also acknowledged increased uncertainty in the global business environment when it announced its first quarter results on April 17.
Schneider Electric maintained its 2025 outlook of organic revenue growth of 7% to 10% and its EBITA margin rising organically by 50-80 basis points.
It reported a 7.4% organic rise in its quarterly sales to 9.33 billion euros ($11 billion), missing analysts’ consensus of 9.47 billion euros and revenue growth of 8.9% in a survey provided by the company.
Sales in the first quarter were hit by declining revenue in its industrial automation business and softness in the residential buildings market, the group said.
However, Schneider Electric added that its Systems division revenue grew 21% organically in the first quarter, driven by strong traction in the data centre end-market.
($1 = 0.8790 euros)
(Reporting by Anna Peverieri; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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