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SWEDEN AND RUSSIA

Swedish engineering giant ABB to quit Russia over Ukraine

Swedish-Swiss engineering giant ABB said on Thursday it will quit Russia as a result of the war in Ukraine and the related international sanctions against Moscow.

Swedish engineering giant ABB to quit Russia over Ukraine
A worker at Hitachi ABB Powergrids in Ludvika. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg / TT

Russia accounts for only one or two percent of ABB’s overall annual turnover and the decision to pull out will have an estimated financial impact in the second quarter of around $57 million, the group calculated.

“ABB has decided to exit the Russian market due to the ongoing war in Ukraine and impact of related international sanctions,” the group said in a statement.

Russia accounts for only one or two percent of ABB’s overall annual sales and the decision to pull out will have an estimated financial impact in the second quarter of around $57 million, the group calculated.

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A large number of major western companies have pulled out of Russia since Moscow invaded its pro-Western neighbour on February 24.

“When the war broke out, ABB stopped taking new orders in Russia,” the group said.

At the same time, it said it continued to fulfill “a small number of existing contractual obligations with local customers, in compliance with applicable sanctions.”

Most of ABB’s dedicated Russian workforce has been on leave since March “and the company will do its best to support them as it realigns its operations in a controlled manner,” it said.

ABB has about 750 people in Russia and two production sites in the country located in the Moscow region and Lipetsk, as well as several service centres.

Separately, the group said that its net profit fell by 50 percent to $379 million in the second quarter, largely as a result of one-off charges, but also the cost of withdrawing from Russia.

Sales, on the other hand, grew by six percent to $7.2 billion in the period from April to June, ABB said.

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COST OF LIVING

Swedish grocery giants to cut prices on hundreds of items

Swedish supermarket chains Ica and Coop vowed to lower prices on a range of items, following a similar move by Lidl last week.

Swedish grocery giants to cut prices on hundreds of items

Ica on Monday morning said that it would cut prices on more than 300 items by between 5 and 25 percent, starting April 11th and lasting at least two months.

It said bread, poultry, cheese, cured meats, sauces, dry goods, baby food and hygiene products would be affected by the price cuts.

Ica is the largest supermarket chain in Sweden with around 36 percent of the market share. Ica franchisees are allowed to independently set their own prices, so the number of items affected and their actual cost will vary from store to store.

The price cuts come after Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson urged Swedish supermarkets to follow Lidl’s example, after the chain (which owns about 5-6 percent of the market) last week announced it would lower and freeze prices on more than a hundred items from March 27th.

Coop also announced on Monday that it would lower prices on all fresh fruit and vegetables by 12 percent for its members. Coop’s price cuts will start on March 30th and apply throughout April.

Household grocery bills are soaring in Sweden, as The Local has previously reported. Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages last month rose 21 percent year-on-year, the biggest increase since the 1950s, eclipsing even the high-inflation years of the 70s.

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