Investor: at Atlas Copco, the vacuum division makes SEK 4,402m of the SEK 4,418m of orders above revenues

In the third quarter of 2026, Atlas Copco's orders exceeded its revenues by SEK 4,418m, SEK 4,402m of it in its vacuum pump division. The Atlas Copco stake was worth SEK 172,275m at Investor on 30 September, 13% of its total assets. Orders at its second-largest holding are advancing first through a division that makes 25.6% of revenues, driven primarily, according to the group, by demand from the semiconductor industry.

Why it matters for Investor shareholders: at 30 September 2026, Investor held 840,268,390 Atlas Copco shares, 17.1% of the capital and 22.3% of the votes (p. 4). The stake represents 13.7% of its adjusted net asset value of SEK 1,258,016m (Opulion calculation, p. 4). In the third quarter, it earned Investor SEK 8,490m, a total return of 5.2% (p. 6), and our brief of 16 October counted it among the listed gains largely absorbed by the falls in ABB, AstraZeneca, Wärtsilä and Ericsson. This value at 30 September predates the report of 22 October. A 10% move in Atlas Copco's share price would shift Investor's adjusted net asset value by about 1.4% (Opulion calculation: 10% of SEK 172,275m, divided by SEK 1,258,016m), a sensitivity and not a forecast. In the third quarter, a division that makes 25.6% of revenues at Investor's second-largest holding contributed 65.5% of the rise in its orders and SEK 4,402m of the SEK 4,418m by which they exceeded revenues.

Orders are firm purchase orders received, revenues what has been delivered and invoiced. Their ratio, the 'book-to-bill', reaches 1.09 for the group and 1.36 for the vacuum division (Opulion calculation: 52,338 over SEK 47,920m, then 16,659 over SEK 12,257m), a reading that our brief on HMS set out at Latour. Vacuum Technique, which makes vacuum pumps, received SEK 16,659m of orders, against SEK 8,916m a year earlier, a reported rise of 87% and of 82% at constant scope and currency (p. 5). The division makes 25.6% of group revenues and 65.5% of the year-on-year rise in orders (Opulion calculation: 12,257 over SEK 47,920m, then 7,743 over SEK 11,821m, group orders having risen from SEK 40,517m to SEK 52,338m, p. 1 and 5). Atlas Copco links this demand to semiconductor and flat panel display manufacturers, and to several key accounts, without naming them.

The figures reconcile division by division (Opulion calculation, p. 4 to 7): +SEK 4,402m for vacuum, +308 for Industrial Technique, +19 for Compressor Technique and −300 for Power Technique come to SEK 4,429m, and eliminations between divisions take away 11, an amount derived from the reported totals. The reported 29% rise on a year earlier (p. 1) reflects a level already reached in the second quarter, on Opulion's reading: from one quarter to the next, the group's organic order volumes remained essentially unchanged, according to Atlas Copco (p. 2).

For Investor shareholders, three proofs will come in order. On 22 January 2027, Investor's year-end report will revalue the stake at 31 December (Investor statement, p. 22). On 28 January 2027, Atlas Copco's fourth-quarter report will show whether the vacuum division holds this level of orders (Atlas Copco report, p. 18). On 22 April 2027, Atlas Copco's annual general meeting will set the dividend that Investor's second-largest holding will pay Investor in cash (Atlas Copco report, p. 18).