"Though the increase in volumes in the building and infrastructure markets means that there will be a slight improvement in prices," according to the Chairman, Guus Hoefsloot, "this will not be visible in the results for 2006, which derive largely from projects acquired under less favourable market conditions. Improvement in the Property and International sector results, as well as those for production activities, compensate the decrease in results in the first half of 2006 at the Building and Infra sectors caused by pressure on margins."
Key points in first six months of 2006 in relation to comparable period in 2005
- Property sector: improvement in prices and margins for owner-occupied homes is driving results. Risk profile of unsold non-residential property has decreased further
- Building sector: lower result as a consequence of pressure on margins and decrease in production volume
- Infra sector: result as expected under pressure due to competitive market and substantially lower profit contribution from major projects which are largely completed
- International sector: further rise in revenues, partly due to the acquisition of Heitkamp Rail (Germany). Improvement in results especially in Belgium and the United Kingdom
- Incidental items in the first half of 2006: EUR 5 million in connection with the sale of Vebo as opposed to EUR 11 million in the comparable period in 2005
- Well-filled order book amounting to EUR 3 billion. |
Complete text of this press release can be found in the attached pdf file.
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Frank Janssen
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Fons van Lith
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