Positive half-year financial results for Strabag

Austrian construction company Strabag SE has released details of its half-year financial results for 2022, which reveal an increase in output as well as a record order backlog of €23.9 million.

Strabag’s head office in Vienna. (Photo: Strabag.)

Backed up by its highest earnings in its history last year, the company reported an output volume of €7.5 million, a 9 % increase when compared with 2021.

The contractor also posted a positive showing in neighboring nation Germany, which saw its order backlog grow by €2 billion.

A balance sheet total of €12.3 billion remained stable according to Strabag, while its net cash position fell from €1.9 million to €1.1 million.

Despite continued growth and its second best half-year result, the Vienna-based company’s EBITDA earnings (€324.6 million) and EBIT earnings (€ 63.6 million) both declined from 2021.

However, the company’s CEO Thomas Birtel claims that it expected this would be the case: “The forecasts may be fraught with uncertainty at the moment, but our half-year figures show that we are meeting our guidance.

“The output has increased as expected, and the order backlog is also showing an upward trend – despite its already high level.

“As predicted, we were not able to repeat the previous year’s exceptional earnings result. In a long-term comparison, however, we can speak of the second-best figure for a first half-year.”

Cash flow from operating activities also reported a negative turnover at - €606 million, however, the company has claimed this is down to an increase in inventories and contract assets as well as the purchase of a property in Stuttgart.

The net income for 2022 so far reached €43.7 million, while its net interest income was also positive at €6.2 million. Earnings before taxes amounted to €69.8 million.

Strabag, which was recently awarded a €226 million contract to modernise 44km of railway line in Croatia say that it “remains committed to the targeted construction output of € 16.6 billion for 2022.”