Aug 14 (Reuters) - Swiss elevator and escalator manufacturerSchindler said on Wednesday its second-quarter netprofit dived 22.4% from previous year to 239 million francs($245 billion), dented by wage inflation, higher material costs,foreign exchange, and planned increase in expenditure onprojects.
Excluding the one-time tax refund of 55 million francs thatwas recognized in the second quarter of 2018, Schindler's netprofit dropped by 5.5%.
Sales in April-June amounted to 2.85 billion francs, about2.4% more than 2.78 billion francs reported in the previousyear.
Schindler expects net profit to reach 900 million francs to940 million francs for the financial year 2019, compared withlast year's 1.01 billion francs.The company reiterated its 2019 guidance of revenue growth ofbetween 4% and 6% in local currencies.($1 = 0.9762 Swiss francs)(Reporting by Bartosz Dabrowski, Editing by SherryJacob-Phillips)