By AFP | Apr 30, 2010
Austrian construction firm Strabag says profits stable in 2009
Austrian construction firm Strabag said Friday that its strategy of geographical diversification enabled it to keep profits stable last year despite the global economic crisis.
And public infrastructure projects included in many national economic stimulus programmes would ensure the group's business would remain stable this year as well, Strabag said in a statement.
Strabag's bottom-line net profit amounted to 161.5 million euros (214 million dollars) in 2009, an increase of 3.0 percent from the previous year.
Underlying profit, as measured by earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), was up 5.0 percent at 282.8 million euros, while construction output slipped by 5.0 percent to 13.021 billion euros.
"Our strategy of diversification has been a success," said chief executive Hans Peter Haselsteiner. "While some individual markets collapsed and many companies suffered under the economic crisis, our revenue and earnings were relatively stable -- as forecast.
"The building sector was badly hit by the global economic crisis because of a fall in demand from businesses and individuals, hitting construction firms worldwide. Nevertheless, many national governments have embarked on major new projects in the field of transportation infrastructure and civil engineering as part of economic stimulus programmes "and these should help to balance out the declining demand in the private sector," Strabag said.
Therefore, Strabag was predicting "stable business in 2010 -- a view that is supported by the high order backlog and by the figures for the first quarter of 2010. "The company said its output volume for 2010 "should show only minor variations from 2009 ... and Strabag expects to see no major changes in terms of the margins on the group level." Strabag employs 75,500 people in Canada, Europe, India and the Middle East.
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