Atlas Copco Says Geopolitical Environment Creates Customer Hesitancy

By Dominic Chopping

STOCKHOLM--Atlas Copco said it expects near-term customer activity to remain at the current level, as the current geopolitical environment continues to raise concerns and create a level of hesitancy among customers.

"The current situation in the Middle East has had limited direct financial effect on the group," said Chief Executive Vagner Rego. "However, given the uncertainties, it is very difficult to predict potential indirect effects."

The Swedish industrial tool maker said activity levels were high among customers across the group the first quarter, with overall demand improving compared with the previous year.

Order intake for vacuum equipment increased significantly from a year earlier, driven by higher demand from the semiconductor industry, while order intake for industrial compressors was essentially unchanged and volumes for gas and process compressors decreased notably, it said.

Industrial assembly equipment and vision solutions orders decreased, while industrial powers tools and power equipment orders increased.

It reported group net profit of 6.26 billion Swedish kronor, equivalent to $678.9 million, down from 6.6 billion kronor a year earlier, as revenue dropped 5.1% to 40.54 billion kronor.

Analysts polled by FactSet had expected net profit of 6.41 billion kronor on revenue of 41.29 billion kronor.

The company received orders worth 45.4 billion kronor in the quarter, against a FactSet forecast of 46.48 billion kronor.

Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 28, 2026 05:52 ET (09:52 GMT)