ABB confident for 2026 as customers plan ahead despite political uncertainty

By John Revill

ZURICH, Jan 29 (Reuters) - ABB ABBN.S shares surged on Thursday after the Swiss engineering group posted record quarterly order intake and gave a confident outlook for 2026, saying customers were investing in automation and electrification despite political uncertainty.

The move from other power sources to electricity was a long-term trend, Chief Executive Morten Wierod said, after ABB reported orders up 36% in the fourth quarter to their highest ever quarterly level of $10.32 billion.

The outlook and results pushed ABB's shares 9.6% higher, making it the best-performing stock on the Stoxx Europe 600 Industrials Index .SXNP.

"The last five, six years has kind of been constant crisis management training," Wierod told reporters. "The geopolitical environment these days is not seen as a crisis.

"It almost has become a bit of a new normal. And therefore, businesses make long-term sensible investments, looking at the long-term trends more than what's in the news today, what was said, but could be reversed tomorrow."

The maker of electrification systems and motors has been benefiting from the artificial intelligence boom, teaming up with companies including chipmaker Nvidia NVDA.O to develop power systems for next-generation AI data centres.

Wierod said he was "very confident" about ABB's data centre business, which now generates around 9% of group revenue and that the company's results showed that its customers were confident in making long-term decisions.

During the fourth quarter, ABB said its operational EBITA rose 19% to $1.58 billion, ahead of forecasts for $1.54 billion in a company-compiled consensus.

Revenue rose 13% to $9.05 billion, beating forecasts for $8.73 billion. The figures did not include the contribution from ABB's robotics business, which the company is selling.

ABB's full-year orders of $36.77 billion, revenue of $33.22 billion and operating earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation margin of 19% were all record annual results for the company.

It proposed a dividend of 0.94 Swiss francs per share, up from 0.90 francs a year earlier, and a new share buyback of up to $2 billion.

For 2026, ABB said it was aiming for comparable revenue growth of 6-9% and a further improvement in its operating EBITA margin.

Also on Thursday, ABB said it would be investing 80 million Swiss francs ($104.51 million) in a new headquarters building in Zurich, due to open in 2031.

($1 = 0.7655 Swiss francs)