Veidekke claims stability despite pre-tax loss

Norwegian contractor Veidekke claims that its activity is stabilising, despite a pre-tax loss of NOK63 million (€8.2 million) in the first quarter of this year.

It said its first quarter performance indicated that activity was stabilising at a high level, with turnover of more than NOK4 billion (€524.5 million). It reported that the result for the quarter was slightly lower than last year, and said this was primarily as a result of write-downs in the Swedish construction operations and improvements in margins in Construction Norway.

Residential development operations in Norway remained strong, it said, with a high order backlog.

Veidekke’s turnover in the first quarter compared to nearly NOK4.3 billion (€562.7 million) in the same period of 2012. The pre-tax loss of NOK63 million compared to a loss of NOK52 million (€6.8 million) for the first quarter of 2012. It put the order backlog for the group as a whole at NOK16.8 billion (€2.2 billion) – NOK15.4 billion (€2 billion) at the same point last year.

Veidekke said that activity in the Norwegian building and construction market was at a high level, but local variations had nevertheless resulted in a slight decrease in Veidekke Entreprenør's turnover in Norway.

It said that despite this, the profit margin had improved over last year. In Sweden, turnover was on a par with last year, but with disappointing results from building operations in Stockholm. Veidekke's Danish construction ­operations, Hoffmann, reported a small decline in sales, while the profit margin improved, which it said was thanks to good progress in ongoing projects.

The combined turnover from construction operations in the first quarter came to NOK3.59 billion (€469.7 million) down from NOK3.80 billion (€497.4 million) last year, resulting in a profit of NOK46 million (€6.02 million), NOK65 million (€8.5 million) in the same period of 2012.