'Demand during the second quarter remained very weak in all customer segments with the exception of the energy sector, which remained robust,' says Sandvik’s President and CEO Lars Pettersson.

'Order intake declined in price and volume by 42% and invoiced sales by 35% compared with the corresponding quarter in the preceding year and amounted to SEK 16.5 billion and SEK 18 billion, respectively. Low invoicing levels combined with low production rates and non-recurring costs of SEK 1.4 billion led to a sharp drop in earnings compared with the preceding year and amounted to a loss of SEK 2 billion. Up until now we have not seen any improvement in the market.

'Efforts to reduce working capital and adapt capacity and costs to the weak market continued successfully. We generated a favorable operating cash flow, inventory volumes were reduced and the cost base was lowered. Meanwhile, our strong market position in the energy sector was confirmed by the agreements we have recently signed for the supply of advanced products to the nuclear power and oil industries.'