Veidekke presents its figures for the third quarter: Better results and substantial new orders
At the end of the first nine months of the year, turnover for the Group was NOK 7,739 million (NOK 5,217 million), earnings before financial items, taxes and depreciation were NOK 512 million (NOK 445 million) and pre-tax profit was NOK 90.2 million (NOK 123.5 million).
The order books for the Group show healthy, continuous growth. At the end of the third quarter, orders-on-hand totalled NOK 6,552 million, compared with NOK 5,833 million at the beginning of the year and NOK 4,133 million at the same time last year.
"Although I don't want to sound too optimistic knowing that we still have some ways to go and that we are not unaffected by the international economic situation, we are very happy to register such an improvement," says Veidekke's President and CEO, Terje R. Venold.
Veidekke's Industry and Property Divisions have achieved considerably better results than last year. The company's traditional contracting operations in Norway are, however, still a bit behind schedule. The consolidated profit for the year is therefore not expected to exceed last year's. In the Regional Construction Division, the work of improving productivity and organisation led to an increase in costs in the third quarter.
However, the order situation in the west of Norway has improved and the prospects for heavy construction operations are also far brighter.
"Final negotiations on several new contracts in Norway and in the west of Sweden mean that excess capacity in heavy construction will be absorbed by the end of the year, and it is a pleasure to see the positive trend in the order situation for the whole Group," says Venold.
"The chances of continued improvement are naturally greater when we have a positive order situation. It is also important that we strive for greater flexibility in our organisation, particularly so that we can make sure a high volume of orders-on-hand benefits the whole group," he adds.
For more information, please contact:
Terje R. Venold, President & CEO,
tel. +47 21 05 77 01 / mob. +47 905 82 323
Arne Giske, Senior Vice President & CFO, tel.+47 21 05 77 80 / mob. +47 905 89 526
Jørgen G. Michelet, Director, Finance and Investor Relations,
tel. +47 21 05 77 22 / mob. +47 917 43 856
Kai Krüger Henriksen, Senior Vice President, Communications,
tel.+47 21 05 77 04 / mob. +47 905 19 360
Reference is also made to the Board of Directors' Report for the period 1 January to 30 September 2001, which is enclosed with this press release.