North America and Europe drive Metso Outotec growth

By Steve Ducker17 February 2023

Metso Outotec president and CEO Pekka Varuamo says he is “proud” of the company’s progress during 2022 after its financial results for the year showed a 19% increase in operating profit.

President and CEO Pekka Vauramo said he was proud of Metso Outotec’s progress during 2022. (Photo: Metso Outotec)

Furthermore, he believes the sustainable technology specialist – which has over 16,000 employees in more than 50 countries – can maintain current business levels across the minerals, metals and aggregates markets during the first half of this year.

Final operating profit was €504 million (US$536 million), compared to €425 million ($452 million) in 2021. This was boosted by a fourth quarter year-on-year growth of 42% to €185 million ($197 million), helped by some larger orders in minerals and metals allied to growth in the North American and European aggregates markets.

At the same time, sales revenues for the year ending 31 December 2022 totalled €5,295 million ($5,635 million), a 25% rise on the previous year, including a 12% increase in the fourth quarter to €1,434 million ($1,526 million)

Despite a healthy fourth quarter, operating profit for the year fell from 10% to 9.5%, which the company attributed to a one-off cost of €150 million ($160 million) related to exiting the Russian market during the year.

“We are proud of the progress made across the company in 2022, despite the challenging market conditions caused by inflation and supply chain constraints,” said Pekka Vauramo.

“In addition, we exited the Russian market and had to commence a wind-down of our contracts with Russian customers.

“The importance of sustainability in our customer industries continues to grow, and we have made progress in both our own footprint and in helping our customers to meet their targets.”

Looking ahead, he continued: “For the first half of 2023, we expect customer activity to remain at the current level, thanks to the megatrends relating to electrification and battery metals driving the demand in the minerals and metals markets.

“We also expect the aggregates markets to hold up well in North America and Europe. While this outlook is dependent on the development of the global economy, I am confident that Metso Outotec is in a strong position to serve its customers and generate value to all its stakeholders in 2023.”