Veidekke order intake ‘good’

First quarter revenue at Scandinavian construction and property development company Veidekke rose 12% compared to the same period last year.

Revenue for the first quarter totalled NOK6.5 billion (€695.65 million), while pre-tax profit for the year increased to NOK60 million (€6.42 million) from a loss of NOK15 million (€1.61 million) last year.

The group had an order backlog of NOK27.4 billion (€2.93 billion) at the close of the first quarter, up 12% from the beginning of the year.

President and CEO Arne Giske said, “Veidekke has continued the trend we have seen in recent quarters, with growth in both revenue and profit in the first quarter of the year.

“Order intake in the quarter was good, and the overall order situation is very satisfactory. Construction operations have had a consistently high level of activity throughout the quarter, but most of the profit growth comes from property development.”

Most of Veidekke’s growth in revenue has been in construction operations in Norway and Denmark, and property development operations in Sweden.

Revenue from Veidekke’s construction operations in the first quarter of 2017 was NOK5.8 billion (€620.48 million), up from NOK5.3 billion (€566.99 million) – an increase of 10% over the corresponding period last year.

First quarter pre-tax profit amounted to NOK125 million (€13.37 million) compared to NOK107 million (€11.45 million) last year.

Veidekke said that construction operations in Sweden and Denmark showed profit growth for the quarter, while the profit from the Norwegian construction operations was weaker than in the corresponding quarter last year.

“Construction operations had growth in both revenue and profit in the first quarter. However, profitability remains low in parts of this business area, and a number of measures have been implemented to improve the situation,” said Giske.