Swedish metal-cutting tools and mining gear maker Sandvik reported resilient fourth-quarter earnings on Monday as strong demand in North America outweighed a softening in Asia on the back of a weaker auto sector. Quarterly order intake at Sandvik, which competes with Sweden’s Epiroc in mining equipment and US firm Kennametal in metal-cutting, rose to 25.63-billion Swedish crowns, up 6% organically and beating the 25.36-billion crown mean forecast in a Reuters poll.
