By John Revill
ZURICH (Reuters) - ABB reported its best start to a year since 2015 on Thursday, a sign the Swiss engineering company's turnaround plan had started to gain traction after a series of stalled quarters.
The power transmission and automation company reported net profit of $572 million for its first quarter, beating the average estimate of $562 million in a Reuters poll of 24 analysts.
Revenue rose 10 percent to $8.63 billion, also beating expectations of $8.39 billion. Operational earnings before interest, tax and amortisation rose to $1.06 billion, while the margin of 12.3 percent was within ABB's target range of 11 to 16 percent.
Revenue and operating EBITA were at the highest level since the first quarter of 2015, when ABB started implementing its Next Level strategy under Chief Executive Ulrich Spiesshofer.
The results will ease pressure on the CEO, who has faced calls from shareholders, frustrated with the company's tepid share price performance, to reconsider selling ABB's struggling power grids business.
Some investors have claimed ABB in its current form is too diverse and lacks the focus it needs to compete with rivals like Siemens and Honeywell which are in the process of slimming down their operations.
ABB has also been hit by a series of hiccups where it has missed expectations and suffered problems with overcapacity and higher raw materials prices.
Its shares have lost 0.7 percent in the past year, lagging the 5.5 percent gain by the Stoxx European industrial sector index.
Power grids still remained a sore spot, with revenue falling 4 percent when adjusted for divestments and currency changes, and it remained just outside of its profitability target.
But in a positive sign, ABB said its overall first-quarter order intake increased to $9.77 billion, beating estimates and the best first-quarter figure in three years.
Spiesshofer said order growth had come in all divisions, including power grids, while ABB had put its "transition year 2017 behind us".
(Reporting by John Revill, editing by John Miller and Michael Shields)
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