ABB Targets 2011

ABB Ltd
05 September 2007


ABB expects sustained growth and increased earnings from 2007 to 2011

Zurich, Switzerland, Sept. 5, 2007 - ABB, the leading power and automation
technology company, expects sustained revenue growth and increased profitability
under its new mid-term strategy for 2007 to 2011.

ABB expects demand for new and upgraded power infrastructure to continue in all
regions, and further industrial investments in improved productivity and energy
efficiency. The company plans to maintain its current core portfolio of
businesses and aims to build on its leading technology and strong market
positions - especially in the fast-growing emerging economies - to increase
revenues organically at almost twice the rate of market growth and three times
the rate of global GDP growth over the period.

Assuming demand remains favorable, ABB expects profitability (measured as
earnings before interest and taxes as a percentage of revenues) to increase by
as much as five percentage points during the five-year period, compared to 2006.
The improvement will be driven by economies of scale, such as strong factory
loading, and further operational improvements.

As a result, the company forecasts earnings per share to grow by a compound
average of 15-20 percent a year over the planning period and its return on
capital employed, after tax, to exceed 30 percent by 2011.

'ABB's market and technology leadership in highly attractive businesses provides
an opportunity to achieve sustainable organic growth and increased
profitability,' said Fred Kindle, ABB President and CEO.

'We will continue our focus on business execution and operational excellence,'
Kindle said. 'Initiatives to optimize our global footprint will continue to
bring both cost and growth benefits. At the same time, we will look for
value-creating external growth opportunities. We expect our shareholders as well
as our other constituencies to directly benefit from this strategy.'

Summary of 2007-11 Group targets(1)
Revenue growth                                                     8-11% CAGR(2)
-------------------------------                                   --------------
EBIT margin corridor                                                      11-16%
-------------------------------                                   --------------
Earnings per share growth                                         15-20% CAGR(2)
-------------------------------                                   --------------
Return on capital employed (after tax) (ROCE)                       > 30% by 2011
-------------------------------                                   --------------
Free cash flow as share of net income (cash conversion)          100% on average
-------------------------------                                   --------------

(1) Targets are defined in Appendix I of this release. (2)Compound annual growth
rate over five years from 2007 to 2011 (i.e., base year is 2006), excluding
major acquisitions and divestitures and assuming constant exchange rates.

The previous EBIT margin target, which was to be achieved by the end of 2009,
has been replaced with an EBIT margin corridor providing a minimum and maximum
value for each year in the 2007-11 period, depending on market conditions. The
previous net margin target has been replaced by a compound annual growth target
for undiluted earnings per share.

'The top of our margin corridor reflects our ambition assuming our end-markets
remain favorable, while the bottom is what we believe we can deliver in a more
challenging market environment,' said Michel Demare, Chief Financial Officer.
'Our aim with the new EPS growth goal is to bring our targets even more in line
with the most widely used valuation measures in the investment community.'


The company said its existing portfolio of power and automation businesses, and
its leading presence in high-growth emerging markets, puts it in a strong
position to benefit from expected continuing growth in power utility and
industrial automation investments over the next five years. These favorable
trends will be further enhanced by the accelerating drive for energy efficiency
and efforts to combat climate change.

From 2007 to 2011, global GDP is expected to grow by an average of about 3
percent a year, while ABB forecasts that its markets will grow at approximately
6 percent a year. The Asian market is expected to grow by more than 50 percent
by 2011, with Europe up 24 percent, the Americas 25 percent, and the Middle East
and Africa 40 percent higher.

ABB continues to assess potential acquisitions that fill technology or regional
gaps, create strategic and financial value and can be successfully integrated.
Taking possible acquisition financing into account, ABB aims for a maximum
balance sheet gearing (total debt divided by total debt plus equity, including
minority interest) of 40 percent. The company's growth and profitability targets
exclude the effect of major acquisitions.

ABB also published revenue growth and EBIT margin targets for each of its five
divisions. The growth targets range from 6 percent in Robotics to 11 percent in
Power Systems. The upper end of the divisional EBIT margin corridors range from
10 percent in Robotics and Power Systems to 19 percent in Automation Products.

Division targets
 Division                   Revenue growth*              EBIT margin corridor
                                                           2007-11 CAGR(2)
---------------               ---------------              ---------------------
Power Products                      10%                          12-17%
---------------               ---------------              ---------------------
Power Systems                      11%                            6-10%
---------------               ---------------              ---------------------
Automation Products                 8%                           14-19%
---------------               ---------------              ---------------------
Process Automation                  8%                            9-14%
---------------               ---------------              ---------------------
Robotics                           6%                             5-10%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  * Compound annual growth rate for the five years from 2007 to 2011 (i.e., base
year is 2006), excluding major acquisitions and divestitures and assuming
constant exchange rates.

Investments in technology and R&D will continue to be a pillar of ABB's
strategy. In addition, the company has identified a number of large industrial
customer segments, such as rail transportation, wind energy and water, where it
has a wide offering of relevant products and services but where it has not yet
tapped the full business potential. Revenue from these end markets is expected
to grow faster than the group average in the next several years.

ABB will continue to drive its global footprint initiative aimed at aligning the
geographic scope of its engineering, manufacturing and supply to rapidly
changing market conditions. The company said it had increased sourcing from
emerging economies to more than 30 percent of total sourcing by the end of the
first half of 2007 compared to under 18 percent in 2005, and that low-cost
sourcing can increase further.

Included in ABB's 2011 strategy are further initiatives to achieve leadership in
business ethics, people development and occupational health and safety.

ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable
utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering
environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100
countries and employs about 111,000 people.


More information

(image001)ABB's mid-term targets press release and presentation slides are
available from Sept. 5, 2007 on the ABB News Center at www.abb.com/news and on
the Investor Relations homepage at www.abb.com/investorrelations.

ABB will host a press conference and conference call for journalists, which will
also be Webcast, starting at 10:00 a.m. Central European Time (CET) today.
Callers from the UK should dial [phone]. From Sweden, dial +46 8 5069
2105, and from the rest of Europe, please dial [phone]. Lines will be
open 15 minutes before the start of the conference. The audio playback of the
conference call will start one hour after the end of the call and be available
for 72 hours: Playback numbers: [phone] (U.K.), [phone] (rest
of Europe) or [phone] (U.S./Canada). The code is 306, followed by the #
key.

A meeting, conference call and live Webcast for analysts and investors is
scheduled to begin today at 2:00 p.m. CET (8:00 a.m. EST). Callers should dial
[phone] (from the U.S./Canada) or [phone] (Europe and the rest
of the world). Callers are requested to phone in ten minutes before the start of
the conference call. The audio playback of the conference call will start one
hour after the end of the call and be available for two weeks. Playback numbers:
[phone] (U.S./Canada) or [phone] (Europe and the rest of the
world). The code is 299, followed by the # key.

Important notice about forward-looking information

This press release includes forward-looking information and statements including
statements concerning the outlook and targets for our businesses. These
statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about
the factors that may affect our future performance, including the economic
conditions of the regions and industries that are major markets for ABB. These
expectations, estimates and projections are generally identifiable by statements
containing words such as 'aims,' 'expects,' 'believes,' 'estimates,' 'targets,'
'plans' or similar expressions. However, there are many risks and uncertainties,
many of which are beyond our control, that could cause our actual results to
differ materially from the forward-looking information and statements made in
this press release and which could affect our ability to achieve any or all of
our stated targets. The important factors that could cause such differences
include, among others, the amount of revenues we are able to generate from order
backlogs and orders received, raw materials prices, market acceptance of new
products and services, changes in governmental regulations and costs associated
with compliance activities, interest rates, fluctuations in currency exchange
rates and such other factors as may be discussed from time to time in ABB's
filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual
Reports on Form 20-F. Although ABB Ltd believes that its expectations reflected
in any such forward-looking statement are based upon reasonable assumptions, it
can give no assurance that those expectations will be achieved.

For more information, please contact;

Media Relations:
Thomas Schmidt, Wolfram Eberhardt
(Zurich, Switzerland)
Tel:  [phone] 
Fax: [phone]
[e-mail]

Investor Relations:
Switzerland: Tel. [phone]
Sweden: Tel. [phone]
USA: Tel. [phone]
[e-mail]

ABB Ltd
Affolternstrasse 44
CH-8050 Zurich, Switzerland




                                   Appendix I
                               Target definitions


Revenue growth CAGR  Compound annual growth rate of revenues for the five years
-------------------  from 2007 to 2011 (i.e., starting point = 2006), excluding
                     major acquisitions and divestitures and assuming constant
                     exchange rates
                     ------------------------------
EBIT margin corridor The minimum and maximum earnings before interest and taxes
-------------------  as a percentage of revenues expected for each year within
                     the period 2007 to 2011
                     ------------------------------
EPS growth           Compound annual growth rate of earnings per share
-------------------  (undiluted) from 2007 to 2011 (i.e., starting point = 2006)
                     ------------------------------
Cash conversion      Free cash flow (cash flow from operating activities
-------------------  adjusted for changes in financing receivables as well as
                     net investments in property, plant and equipment) as a
                     percentage of net income
                     ------------------------------
Return on capital    EBIT (less tax), divided by the sum of fixed assets plus
employed             net working capital (at year end)
                     EBIT (less tax) = EBIT x (1 - tax rate)
                     Tax rate = Provision for taxes / Income from continuing
 ------------------- operations before taxes and minority interest
                     ------------------------------




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