☰

Empresas y finanzas

Alstom first quarter sales rise 8 percent, keeps targets


    PARIS (Reuters) - Alstom SA , which is selling its power equipment business to General Electric Co , posted an 8 percent rise in first-quarter sales on Monday and confirmed its medium-term growth target.

    The French company said order intake fell to 2 billion euros ($2.17 billion) from 4.8 billion in the year-earlier period that benefited from a 4 billion contract in South Africa. Sales were 1.6 billion euros, it said in a statement.

    "The project with General Electric is moving ahead; the process for competition and regulatory authorizations is ongoing and we are actively working to complete it," ALSTOM (ALO.PA)Chief Executive Patrick Kron said.

    "After closing, we plan to call a shareholders' meeting to vote on the amount of cash proceeds to be distributed to shareholders."

    Alstom also confirmed that it expects sales to grow at over 5 percent a year organically in the medium term and that its operating margin should gradually improve within the 5 percent to 7 percent range.

    (Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Christopher Cushing)