ZURICH, July 18 (Reuters) - ABB on Thursday reported slightly better-than-expected profit during the second quarter in the Swiss engineering group's final set of numbers under departing Chief Executive Bjorn Rosengren.

The maker of factory robots, ship motors and industrial drives said operational core profit (EBITA) for the April-June period rose by 10% to $1.56 billion, beating analyst forecasts for a figure of $1.54 billion.

"In the second quarter, demand was solid and the operational EBITA margin reached the all-time-high level of 19%," Rosengren said in a statement.

"I am confident that ABB will continue to deliver long-term shareholder value in line with its targets as Morten Wierod takes over as CEO next month," he added.

The second-quarter figures were the last operating results under Rosengren, who is stepping down at the end of July.

The former Sandvik and Wartsila CEO has led a turnaround at ABB since taking charge in 2020.

The 65-year-old has overseen a decentralisation of the company's operations, simplifying its structure and selling and spinning off businesses, including its power conversion unit.

During his tenure, ABB's operating profit margin rose from 10.2% in the first quarter of 2020 to 19.0% in the second quarter of this year. The company's share price has more than doubled in that period.

Still, orders nudged down by 3% in the second quarter to $8.435 billion from $8.667 billion during the same period last year, the company said. (Writing by Dave Graham, Editing by Miranda Murray)