On June 4, 2009, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services revised its outlook on Sandvik AB to negative from stable. At the same time, we affirmed our ratings on the company, including the 'A-' long-term corporate credit rating. The outlook revision reflects an increasing risk of continued underperformance in relation to our ratings targets, and follows a weakening operating performance owing to sharper-than-expected contraction of demand, with accompanying margin pressure. The company's credit measures are currently significantly below our guidelines for the rating. The current ratings incorporate our base case in which Sandvik's credit measures improve over the short to medium term, mainly reflecting reduced under-absorption of costs, as well as debt reduction resulting from positive working capital, lower capital expenditure,
