ABB Q3 Net Profit Up 12 Pct To Over $1 Bln

ABB was one of six companies fined by the European Union earlier this month for having secretly agreed to artificially raise the prices of their power transformers by not selling them in each other's markets. The transformers are used to modify the voltage in electricity transmission networks. The other fined companies were Alstom SA and Areva T&D SA of France, and Fuji Electrics, Hitachi and Toshiba of Japan.

The fine of almost euro34 million (US$50 million) was lower than the amount ABB had set aside, said spokesman Wolfram Eberhardt.

This allowed the company to reduce its provisions for that investigation, though it still faces an EU probe for alleged anti-competitive practices in its cables business, he said.

Set asides for an ongoing tax matters in Russia, meanwhile, were increased, said Eberhardt.

ABB previously announced it had informed the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about suspect payments made by employees of company subsidiaries in Asia, South America and Europe.