By Ozan Ergenay and Cian Muenster
(Reuters) -Swiss lift maker Schindler reported a nearly 6% drop in its second-quarter sales on Friday, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war drove up the value of the Swiss franc.
The value of the Swiss currency, seen as a safe haven amid economic turmoil, has grown around 12% against the U.S. dollar since the start of the year.
As Schindler makes a vast majority of its sales in foreign currencies, this means their value suffers a negative impact when converted into francs.
The company, which also makes escalators and moving walkways, saw a 5.7% revenue drop to 2.75 billion francs ($3.43 billion) in the quarter, which exceeded analysts’ mean estimate of 2.65 billion, LSEG data showed.
Currency conversions impacted sales by 186 million francs in the first half of the year, it said.
Schindler’s shares, which have gained around 17% since the start of the year, were down 2.4% as of 1108 GMT.
The company is working to pass on some tariff costs to its customers, like it had said in April, CEO Paolo Compagna told Reuters.
“There’s a pricing action in place, and in magnitude of customers, we go piece by piece,” he said, adding the company had not seen a change in the market environment or customers’ behaviour yet.
“Everyone talks about these question marks towards the future, but by now, it’s not yet there,” Compagna said.
Schindler has focused on the digitalization of its business in recent years, a move that it expects to drive growth through enhanced customer loyalty as services become more efficient.
“Our efforts in modernization are paying off, driving solid organic growth at a time of macro-economic uncertainty and severe currency headwinds,” Compagna said in the earnings statement.
The company also confirmed its guidance for 2025.
($1 = 0.8027 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Ozan Ergenay and Cian Muenster in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
