By Bernadette Hogg
(Reuters) -Schindler raised its annual margin forecast on Friday, helped by more efficient operations and changes in prices and product mix, even as China’s property crisis continues to dampen order intake for new installations of lifts and escalators.
The Swiss company now expects an operating profit margin of around 12.5% for the full year, after previously seeing it at around 12%. It secured a margin of 12.5% in the first nine months of 2025, and 13% in the third quarter alone.
Schindler booked new orders worth 2.64 billion Swiss francs ($3.33 billion) in the quarter, down from an intake of 2.71 billion francs a year earlier and below analysts’ consensus of 2.67 billion francs compiled by Vara Research.
“New installations order growth was negative, driven by continued headwinds in China, whilst modernization grew strongly, and service continued to grow at a steady pace,” Schindler said in the earnings statement.
The Chinese economy has continued to struggle with a prolonged property crisis, after new construction starts fell by 23% last year.
Schindler’s global order intake for new installations shrank by more than 10% in the third quarter, it said in a presentation. In the first half of the year, that decline was between 5% and 10%.
A turnaround in new installation orders in Europe, the Middle East and Africa could not quite make up for slower growth in the Asia Pacific region and the Americas. The company saw quarterly growth of 5% to 10% in the EMEA region, after a decline of between 0% and 5% in the first half.
Schindler’s 2025 market outlook for new installations in the Americas changed for the better, however, as it now sees new installations remaining stable in the region rather than declining slightly.
($1 = 0.7931 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Bernadette Hogg in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
