Heijmans reports turnover fall

A “difficult market” has been attributed to Heijmans latest year-to-date trading update warning of its turnover falling nearly 10%.

The Netherlands-based contractor has said it expects to post a net loss for 2014, following restructuring measures within its non-residential activities that have resulted in a total of 200 job losses.

However, its CEO Bert van der Els has expressed optimism with an increase in the firm’s order book - which stood at €2.5 billion at the end of September.

It cited “fierce competition” having placed pressure on its profit margins - with turnover for non-residential down 20% for the first nine months of the year.

In particular, the company’s infrastructure activities in Germany were said to have experienced reduced margins. This has led to a drive to scale down construction projects and technical installations.

Despite this, Heijmans confirmed several key projects remained in the pipeline, including contracts for new premises for Eurojust in The Hague and Dutch medicines assessment board CBG in Utrecht.

The company said that its half-year results showing revenues of €820 million offered a platform for restructuring the company into 2015.

CEO Bert van der Els said, "We see low results across the board. Today it is not certain if we can deliver a positive operating result for the year. A strong focus on cash flow and our solid solvency ratio should help us through.

“We have to take additional measures to realise the required improvement in returns. Undeniably positive is the increase of our order book and recovery of the residential market.

"The launch of the Glowing Lines 2.0 and the introduction of Heijmans ONE show that our innovative potential creates opportunities to develop this added value into a know-how and technology-driven portfolio."