Heijmans turnaround

The 2017 annual results of Dutch contractor Heijmans show that the company has made something of a turnaround.

Ton Hillen, CEO of Heijmans, said, “2017 was a transitional year, in which, with our strategy ‘Focus, Discipline, Excellence’, we have laid a sound foundation for further recovery.”

The company has gone from having a high risk profile and making losses of €110 million in 2016, to reducing its risk and making profits of €20 million.

The company’s infrastructure activities played a key role in this, going from making sever losses to being a profitable operation.

Hillen said, “We have realised this by adjustments to the management of the organisation, the sale of business units, a more selective acquisition policy and reassessment of the tender and project portfolio.”

In 2017, Heijmans became a purely Dutch company with a focus on its core competencies in property development, residential building, non-residential and infrastructure.

Revenue in the Netherlands grew marginally from the €1.37 billion recorded in 2016 to €1.4 billion in 2017.

Underlying EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) in the Netherlands came to €30 million in 2017, compared to minus €73 million in 2016.

At the end of the year, Heijmans’ order book in the Netherlands stood at €1.9 billion, up from the €1.86 billion at the end of 2016.

“We closed 2017 with a positive operating result, which forms the basis to once again look to the future,” said Hillen.

“In 2018, Heijmans will continue to work on continuous improvements in order to maintain the pace of our recovery. Based on today’s figures and a well-stocked order book, we are looking forward to 2018 with confidence.”