Denmark’s FLS (FLSmidth) expects increased aftermarket and fluid handling product sales to offset subdued market activity for its core mineral processing equipment lines in the second half of 2026 to enable delivery of 0-4% group revenue growth for the full year.
The Copenhagen-listed manufacturer, which last year exited the cement industry to focus purely on mining, reported a 16.8% uplift in June quarter revenue to DKK3944 million (US$616 million), compared with the same period in 2025. Q2 2026 order intake climbed 14.5% year-on-year to DKK4026m ($629m).
The stronger quarter meant first-half revenues were up 2% yoy to DKK7223m ($1128m) while orders were 8.6% higher in the first six months of 2026 at DKK7924m ($1238m).
On the earnings front, FLS reported a 33.9% yoy rise in Q2 EBITA to DKK699m ($109m). First-half EBITA was DKK1866m ($291m).
The company said its group backlog increased 6% in six months to DKK11.51 billion ($1.8 billion) at the end of June. “Strong order intake” in its large service and smaller pumps, cyclones and valves (PC&V) businesses contrasted with “a low level of order intake in the products business following a prolonged period of subdued market demand”. The equipment backlog was also hit by an order cancellation in the June 2026 quarter.
FLS said its 2026 full-year organic revenue growth guidance, previously projected at -1% to 4%, was now at 0-4%. It has adjusted its forecast EBITA margin up to 16-16.5% from 15.5-16.5%, mainly on the expected revenue mix for the year.
FLS CEO Toni Laaksonen described Q2 service and PC&V order intake as “robust” while “the timing of final investment decisions on several larger customer projects” was impacting equipment orders.
“Market conditions for the products business remained relatively subdued in the second quarter of 2026, reflecting continued low levels of largescale investment activity across the mining industry,” he said.
“Customer capex spending continues to be primarily allocated towards maintenance and optimisation of existing mining projects rather than into expansion of mining activities, resulting in limited demand for larger equipment orders in the near term.”
FLS is forecasting a yoy decline of 5-15% in equipment sales revenues in 2026 but 3-5% growth in the service business and a 5-8% uptick in PC&V revenues.
While delays in larger mining capital expenditure on modernisation and upgrade projects also affected new service business in the first half of 2026, FLS said its backlog at the end of June had grown 16% yoy to DKK5555 million ($870m) and new sales opportunities were generally presenting later in 2026 “rather than into 2027”.
The company had a DKK1229m ($192m) mid-year PC&V backlog, 23% higher than last year, after a 15% yoy increase in orders taken in the first half of this year. FLS claims “continued market-share gains” at a time when peers are also reporting gains in an expanding market.
Laaksonen said the outlook for the global mining equipment market remained tough to predict.
“The outlook improves further out as more large-scale projects approach potential sanctioning in late 2026 or into 2027,” he said.
These included mainly South American copper projects and “a number of gold projects now at advanced stages [that] could potentially support order activity sooner”.
“Together these dynamics suggest momentum is building, albeit unevenly, across parts of the market. As a result near-term order intake for products is likely to stay muted,” he said.
“There’s more and more engineering activity and the pipeline is building up.
“We still expect that at the end of this year and [into] next year we are seeing larger greenfield projects being sanctioned … [and] being visible in our orders.
“With the brownfield sites … all the miners are running their sites as fast as possible and trying to develop their efficiency. From our point of view this is visible with the service business line orders and with our pumps, cyclones and valves.
“There is robust outlook for the services and PC&V business lines in this respect.”
Meanwhile, FLS chief financial officer Roland Andersen told analysts the company had “a lot of dry powder for M&A”.
It had net interest-bearing debt (NIBD) of DKK2228 million ($348m) at the end of June this year, compared with DKK2014m at the same time last, after 2026 share repurchases. About $562 million was available on existing credit lines.
“We are keeping our leverage at 0.6x [which] it has been for a number of quarters now, well below our capital structure target of 2x,” Andersen said. He said FLS’ share buyback program was cica-40% completed.
The company last month announced the appointment of Sandvik Mining strategy, M&A and business development VP Kristoffer Hessedahl as its new chief strategy and M&A officer. Hessedahl has been at Sandvik for six years, a period of heavy M&A for the Swedish company. He won’t join FLS in its newly created executive role until late 2026 or early 2027.
Laaksonen said FLS’ M&A pipeline of potential bolt-on targets had been “developing positively”.
“The intention is that when the right target is there that we would move,” he said.
FLS’s share price is up more than 15% in the past month, capitalising the company at about $4.49 billion.
