Fitch revises Dover to negative

Fitch Ratings said it affirmed Dover Corp.’s long-term issuer default rating at A and short-term issuer default rating at F1 and revised the outlook to negative from stable.

Dover had $2.8 billion of debt outstanding as of Dec. 31.

Fitch said the negative outlook reflects Dover's soft operating results and weaker credit metrics, which the agency expects will persist through 2016 and into 2017.

Dover's revenues declined 10% in 2015, due primarily to weak results in its energy segment, which realized a 26.4% decline in revenues and a 62.5% drop in operating earnings. This segment, which generated 16.8% of Dover's operating profits in 2015 was negatively affected by the sharp drop in North American upstream oil and gas markets. Fitch expects oil and gas drilling and production will remain depressed in the first half of 2016 before reaching bottom and beginning a gradual recovery.

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