ZURICH, July 18 (Reuters) - Swiss engineering company ABB on Thursday reported slightly better-than-expected profit during the second quarter, even as orders nudged down from the same period last year in dollar terms.

The maker of factory robots, ship motors and industrial drives said operational core profit (EBITA) for the April-June period rose by 10% to $1.56 billion, beating analyst forecasts for a figure of $1.54 billion.

(Writing by Dave Graham, Editing by Miranda Murray)