A fourth-quarter quagmire dampened the year for French automation vendor Schneider Electric, with revenue essentially flat against the year-earlier quarter, and CEO Jean-Paul Tricoire warned of a 5% to 15% slowdown in 2009.
Revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2008, was €4.71 billion — 0.4% below the prior-year total. For the year, the top line rose 6.6% to €18.31 billion and yearly net income bumped up 6.3% to €1.68 billion. Schneider reported the results on a constant currency basis and did not break out earnings results for the quarter.
The sluggish quarter echoed a warning that Schneider issued two months ago, when it cut its organic growth forecast for the year and said it would accelerate cost cutting. That revision followed a rapid economic decline that started with an abrupt falloff at the end of the third quarter in September.
In a statement yesterday, the company blamed the negative fourth-quarter showing on “the fast-deteriorating business environment in the later part of the year, weakening end-market trends across geographies, deferral of new investment decisions by end users, and destocking at some of the distributors.”