Assa Abloy third-quarter earnings beat forecast, helped by pricing and cost control

Oct 27 (Reuters) - Sweden's Assa Abloy, the world's largest lock maker, on Tuesday reported stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings, driven by price realization and cost efficiencies.

The group, which competes with Allegion and Dormakaba, said its restructuring was progressing as planned, with a new manufacturing optimization program due to launch in the fourth quarter.

• Operating profit at the group level increased by 11% in the July-September period to 7.10 billion Swedish crowns ($713.39 million), beating the 6.94 billion crowns forecast by analysts polled by LSEG

• Its revenue grew 4% organically in the quarter from the year-ago period

• Organic growth was strong in the Americas, partly driven by strong growth in the non-residential segment, and an improvement in the North America residential segment

• The group, which combines organic growth with an active acquisition strategy, expects that completed acquisitions and divestments will have an effect of 2% on sales in the fourth quarter versus the same period last year

• Assa Abloy's new manufacturing footprint program will entail closure of factories, warehouses and offices taking place over a period of about two years

(Reporting by Alexander Klyve Gudbrandsen in Gdansk; editing by Izabela Niemiec)