he Finnish machinery and plant manufacturer Raute saw its order intake recover a little to €24m in the second quarter. The first quarter had ended with new orders valued at just €10m. The backlog of orders climbed by €3m again by mid-year as a result, but was significantly lower than last year‘s level at €40m.
Raute faced a 12 % drop in turnover to €19.8m in the second quarter of 2013 amid relatively weak order intake at the end of 2012 and at the start of 2013. This came on the heels of significant improvements in the previous three quarters. Looking at the first six months combined, Raute‘s revenues were still much higher than last year at €43.2m due to the first-quarter growth. Operating profits stayed in positive territory in the first six months at €0.6m despite an operating loss of about €0.3m in the second quarter. Net first-half profits stood at +€0.6m.