WORLD – The Danfoss Group have announced their first quarter results for 2015. The group states that they have made a satisfactory start to the financial year, with total net sales over the first quarter of DKK 9,385m compared with DKK 8,303m in the first quarter of 2014. This 13% growth includes the additional sales generated by the Finnish drives manufacturer Vacon, which was acquired by Danfoss in the latter part of 2014. The figures released by Danfoss show a local currency sales growth of 6% from the equivalent period in 2014. The group’s free cash flow before M&A continued to be strong, while the Group’s earnings (EBIT excluding other operating income/expenses) were down to DKK 930m from DKK 996m last year.

‘The first three months were in line with our expectations. As expected, the economic downturn in Russia and in particular the significant depreciation of the ruble in the latter part of 2014 led to some turbulence in the market, which has affected our heating business in the region. Taking that into consideration, all in all a good start to the year,’ declared President & CEO Niels B. Christiansen.

Market conditions remain mixed across the various regions and the first quarter was characterized by overall global low growth.

‘During the beginning of the year, we have taken further steps to position our organization to accelerate profitable growth. We remain focused on utilizing and investing in opportunities for growth like in India, Turkey and Mexico, and the incipient optimism in North America and Europe is also good news for us,’ continued Mr. Christiansen.

From a business segment point of view, the acquisition of Vacon strengthened Danfoss’ drives business while the cooling business opened the year quite strongly due in large part to Danfoss targeting high growth potential investments in India.