“The orders recovery in the second quarter and a low base of comparison support our plan for high single digit underlying sales growth in the back half.”

In context

“led by Asia and The Middle East and Africa, with robust investment in energy and LNG projects offsetting continued weakness in China, specifically bulk chemical. The Americas were up mid-single digits with solid MRO in North America and broad based strength in Latin America. Europe saw low single digit growth with continued momentum in Energy Transition and Life Sciences. We expect Process and Hybrid sales growth in the second half to remain in the mid-single digits, driven by sustained global investment in LNG, Life Sciences and Power. We are planning for gradual improvement in China, aided by easier comps and investment momentum in power and marine. Turning to discrete. Underlying sales were down low single digits in the first half with the most pronounced weakness in Europe and China. The orders recovery in the second quarter and a low base of comparison support our plan for high single digit underlying sales growth in the back half. We expect continued improvement in discrete MRO as well as test and measurement markets with regional growth led by The Americas and Asia ex China. We now see a more muted recovery for factory automation and continue to see declines in automotive. These dynamics are expected to prolong weakness in Europe and China, although we expect to see sequential improvement in both regions in the second half. The improving business fundamentals reinforced our expectation for low single digit sales growth for the full year. And lastly, Industrial Software ended the first half with ACV of $1.5 billion, a growth of 11%, driven by demand for AspenTech's digital grid management and manufacturing and supply chain suites. DeltaV software recorded double digit growth in subscriptions, and LabVIEW also contr”