The electrical engineering group Schneider Electric aims to accelerate its profit growth.
Additionally, the French rival to Siemens announced a EUR3.5 billion share buyback on Thursday during an investor event. This would be the company's first such move in nearly three years. Following the announcement, Schneider shares in Paris rose by as much as 4.4 percent—their largest gain in almost six months.
The company plans to increase its operating margin by 2.5 percentage points between 2026 and 2030. Previously, it had targeted a half-percentage-point rise for the period from 2023 to 2027. Schneider continues to forecast revenue growth of between seven and ten percent.
The more optimistic profit outlook is driven by the construction boom in AI data centers. Schneider provides, among other things, components for server power supply and cooling. This business segment grew at a double-digit percentage rate in the last quarter and, according to company forecasts, will contribute a quarter of total group sales by 2026.
Schneider recently secured orders worth around EUR2 billion for equipping data centers in North America. However, CEO Olivier Blum stated that demand is also strong in Europe, the Middle East, China, and India.
(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro and Leo Marchandon; written by Hakan Ersen, edited by Myria Mildenberger. For inquiries, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and economics) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for business and markets).
