Earnings were further adversely affected by about 200 million SEK due to a further weakening of currencies such as the Australian dollar and the South African Rand, which were also impacted by the downturn in the mining industry.
Order intake for the March quarter stood at 22.4 billion SEK, up 2% on the previous corresponding period.
Sandvik has responded to the market conditions by making several changes to the senior management team of the company and of its mining unit.
Scot Smith has been appointed president of Sandvik Mining and Åsa Thunman has been appointed executive vice president and general counsel of Sandvik. Both will be included as new members of group executive management.
Smith is currently president of the Sulzer Pumps Division.
His previous position was head of the Weir Group’s mining division, a post he held for 11 years. Prior to this, his career included senior positions with Schefenacker, Britax Vision Systems, General Motors and the Van Dresser Corporation.
Sandvik Mining president Gary Hughes will assume the position as head of sales and marketing for the same business area. In his new role, he will use his extensive experience to maintain a dedicated focus on further strengthening Sandvik’s customer relations.
Sandvik CEO Olof Faxander said Scot Smith will strengthen the Sandvik Mining management team, while Gary Hughes will make a contribution to the team in his new role focusing on sales and marketing.
“Gary Hughes has contributed substantially to our mining operations during difficult times, providing Scot Smith with an excellent platform to develop our business even further,” he said.
“Both Åsa Thunman and Scot Smith have extensive experience from relevant industries and companies. With their backgrounds, they are highly suited to the task of bringing forward our legal function and mining business, respectively.”
Global industrial production and macroeconomic conditions improved at the beginning of 2014, according to Faxander.
“Conditions thus improved for our currently largest and most profitable business area, Sandvik Machining Solutions,” he said.
“In addition, several major orders totalling 1.3 billion SEK were secured in the energy segment.
“However, demand from the mining industry weakened somewhat as customers continued to defer new investments.”
The process to close a total of seven units has begun under the company’s initiative to optimize its global supply chain and manufacturing footprint.
