French engineer Alstom predicted steady sales growth in coming years, bolstered by emerging markets and a burgeoning offshore wind turbine business, as it reported a sharp increase in full-year earnings.
Alstom, whose products also include high-speed trains and turbines for power stations, said on Friday sales should grow more than 5 percent annually through 2015.
Its order backlog at end-March was 49.3 billion euros ($65 billion), up 5 percent and representing 30 months of sales.
“Looking ahead … we are expecting to maintain a sound level of orders,” chief executive Patrick Kron said in a statement that provided longer-term guidance for the first time since the economic crisis three years ago.
Developing countries should propel growth across all units, Alstom said, while mature markets, although still slow globally, should show positive signs in businesses such as offshore wind turbines and high-tech transmission.
Its net income rose 58 percent to 732 million euros ($963 million) in its year to end-March, on sales down 5 percent to 19.9 billion euros.
Orders rose 14 percent to 21.7 billion euros. Its book-to-bill ratio, a measure of new orders against actual shipments, was above 1 for a sixth consecutive quarter, indicating the market was continuing to expand.
Alstom said its operating margin should rise to around 8 percent by March 2015, up from 7.1 percent last year. It also said cash management remained a priority, adding it was aiming for positive free cash flow in each of the next three years.
Goldman Sachs analysts said the earnings were “a solid set of results. We believe guidance is solid and points to the expectation of continuing order growth”.
Alstom shares, which had risen 15 percent this year, were down 2.2 percent at 1130 GMT.
Wind power
Alstom, in partnership with state-owned utility EDF , has won the bulk of France’s first offshore wind farm tender, designed to kick-start the sector in the country and reduce dependence on nuclear power.
Wind generators are a relatively new business for Alstom, which entered the wind power market five years ago with the 350 million euro takeover of Spanish onshore wind turbine maker Ecotecnia.
Offshore has become a promising market. Several European countries, the United States and China are increasingly turning to this type of renewable energy because turbines are less obtrusive and average wind speeds are higher over open water.
Alstom has pledged to establish up to four plants in northwest France through an investment of 100 million euros to support the production of its Haliade turbines, the world’s largest offshore turbines with a diameter of 153 metres - about half the height of the Eiffel Tower. ($1 = 0.7603 euro)
