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| Strabag reports a record order backlog Strabag SE, Central and Eastern Europe's largest construction company, confirms its outlook on stable output volume and earnings for the full year 2010. The unfavourable weather conditions at the beginning of the year and the completion of several large projects in the Middle East led to a 7 % reduction in the output volume to € 5, 234.20 million in the first six months of 2010. Sharp drops were registered in the Building Construction & Civil Engineering and the Special Divisions & Concessions segments, while the output volume remained stable in the Transportation Infrastructures segment. The group output volume remained nearly unchanged in the second quarter of 2010, losing just 1 % to € 3,396.82 million. The picture was similar with the consolidated group revenue, which fell by 6 % to € 5, 034.97 million in the first six months of 2010. In the second quarter of 2010, the revenue – and the output volume – was 1 % below the levels of the same period the year before. The order backlog reached another record high of € 15,752.01 million. This time, the growth is due not only to newly acquired large-scale projects in the Polish transportations infrastructures segment. In Slovakia, the full consolidation of railway construction subsidiary Viamont in the first quarter of 2010 had a positive effect on the order backlog. Strabag continues to successfully pursue the strategy of expanding its market presence in the Benelux countries, Scandinavia and the non-European markets to avoid being fully exposed to the margin pressure on the core markets in Europe. Expenses for raw materials, consumables and other services remained stable in the first six months measured in terms of the revenue. The earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) nevertheless gained 14 % over the last year due to the write-up through profit or loss for Czech railway construction company Viamont DSP a.s. of € 24.60 million. Strabag increased its share in the company from 50 % to 100 %. A premium for control was considered in the purchase price for the additional 50 % interest. As synergy effects in the group may only be used after organizational measures, these synergies are not yet included in the goodwill. This resulted in a charge for goodwill impairment in the amount of € 14.00 million, which increased the depreciation and amortisation by 13 %. This results in earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of € -10.36 million compared to € -11.13 million in the same period last year. A stable trend could be seen in the second quarter of 2010: while the EBITDA gained 1 % to € 232.24 million, the EBIT fell slightly by 1 % to € 139.53 million. write your comments about the article :: © 2010 Construction News :: home page |