Company39;s stock reaches highest ever level
CEO says he is more confident about 2024 than earlier
Company sees signs of China improvement
Analysts see positive signal for industrial rivals

ZURICH, April 18 Reuters ABB shares soared to their highest ever level on Thursday after the Swiss engineering group posted betterthanexpected first quarter profit and signalled faster growth in the coming months.

The maker of factory robots and electric motors for ships also raised its profit outlook, saying markets, such as the United States and India, were helping offset a big drop in new business from China.

ABB39;s stock rose 6 after the update, hitting its highest level since the company was set up in 1988. ABB was also the biggest gainer among European industrials.

Analysts pointed to the ABB39;s highest ever operating profit margin during the quarter, while the drop in orders after ABB faced high comparisons with last year, was less bad than feared.

Chief Executive Bjorn Rosengren, who is due to step down at the end of July, was in an upbeat mood.

The year got off to a good start, he told reporters. I feel even more confident than I did coming into the year.

The 65yearold Swede, a former CEO at Swedish engineering company Sandvik and Finnish power company Wartsila, also brushed off concerns about China.

Although orders in the company39;s second biggest market fell 18, ABB was seeing signs of recovery, while other markets like India were helping compensate for that…