Veidekke to lay asphalt across Norway

2014 might be a record year for asphalt production and asphalting for Veidekke: "We have never seen a higher order backlog than we have now. We expect to lay more than two million metric tons of asphalt this year. This corresponds to more than the distance between Lindesnes to the North Cape at a width of eight metres, says managing director Øyvind Moen of Veidekke Industri.

The Norwegian Public Roads Administration's annual tender competition has given Veidekke a large share of asphalt contracts with a huge 900,000 metric tons of asphalt at a value of NOK 800 million (excluding VAT). The company also has a number of large construction projects on the client list along with municipalities, airports and private assignments for businesses and households.

"This combination of customers and assignments is good for us, so we can't deny that we are very satisfied with our order situation," Moen says, before continuing: "This year the asphalt season started earlier than last year. Such a start puts our industry in a very good position, and we expect to lay well over 2 million metric tons of asphalt all over the country during this season. In comparison, that is more than if we had asphalted two lanes (8 metres in width) on the 2,523 kilometre stretch between Lindesnes and the North Cape through the whole of Norway.

New operation and maintenance contracts

Veidekke has also been awarded a large share of 5 year contracts for operation and maintenance of classified and secondary roads for the Norwegian Public Roads Administration. Veidekke lost one contract, but won five in this year's tender competition. These are valued at around NOK 1 billion over the next five years.

"We will handle everything from snow clearing and gritting, cleaning signs, emptying waste, clearing verges, cleaning ditches to clearing up after floods, landslides and accidents on 11,300 kilometres of road from Finnmark in the north to Agder in the south. This has become an important business area for Veidekke, and provides turnover of almost 1 billion NOK a year and an contract portfolio near 3 billion NOK," Moen concludes.

For more information please contact:

CEO Øyvind Moen of Veidekke Industri, tel. +47 93 20 14 19, oyvind.moen@veidekke.no

Communications Manager with Helge Dieset with Veidekke ASA, tel. +47 90 55 33 22, helge.dieset@veidekke.no

Veidekke is one of Scandinavia's largest contractors and property developers. The company undertakes all types of building and construction contracts, maintains roads and produces asphalt, crushed stone and gravel. The company is characterized by involvement and local knowledge. Turnover is NOK 21 billion (2013), and half of the 6,300 employees own shares in the company. Veidekke is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange and has always posted a profit since it was founded in 1936.