(RTTNews) - Swiss power and automation technologies company ABB Ltd. (ABB: News ) reported Thursday a rise in third-quarter profit, reflecting significant net gain on provision adjustments. Meanwhile, revenues fell from last year, on 21% drop in orders. Looking ahead, the company said its outlook for its businesses over the rest of 2009 and into 2010 remains uncertain.

The Zurich, Switzerland-based company's net income for the quarter grew to $1.09 billion from last year's $979 million. Third-quarter net income attributable to ABB was $1.03 billion or $0.45 per share, up 12% from $927 million or $0.40 per share in the comparable quarter last year.

The company noted that latest quarter results included a $380-million net gain for various previously-announced provision adjustments. Restructuring-related costs were approximately $40 million in the quarter.

On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to post earnings of $0.30 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimate typically exclude special items.

Earnings before interest and taxes, or EBIT, for the quarter was $1.4 billion, up 10% from $1.29 billion in the prior year quarter. Excluding adjustments, EBIT and EBIT margin were lower than last year, primarily reflecting the business mix, decreased capacity utilization and lower prices in short-cycle businesses, partly offset by ABB's cost take-out program which yielded savings in the quarter of approximately $500 million.
Revenues for the quarter fell 10% to $7.91 billion from $8.79 billion in the year-ago quarter, yet beat two Wall Street analysts' estimate of $7.82 billion. Revenues from sales of products were $6.71 billion, down from last year's $7.50 billion. Sales of services declined to $1.20 billion from $1.29 billion a year ago.

Segment-wise, Power Products revenues dropped 7% year-over-year to $2.82 billion, mainly on lower revenues from shorter-cycle businesses related to the industrial and construction sectors, as well as delays in customer acceptance of products. Power Systems revenues were $1.61 billion, up 1% from last year, on continuing strong order backlog, while revenues from Automation Products fell 14% to $2.23 billion. In the quarter, Process Automation revenues totaled $1.81 billion, down 6% from prior year, and Robotics revenues plunged 51% from last year to $211 million.

Orders were $7.06 billion in the quarter, down 21% from prior year's $8.89 billion, despite strong power infrastructure orders, while the decline was 15% on local currency basis. The company noted that utility investments to expand and refurbish power transmission grids were more than offset by lower demand from most of ABB's industrial markets and the construction sector, resulting in lower orders.

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