Profits up at Boskalis

Dredging and maritime services company Royal Boskalis Westminster recorded a net profit of €306.5 million in the first half of 2015, a rise of 21% over the €253.0 million in the first half of last year.

Revenue in the first half of the year rose 1.6% to €1.57 billion compared to a first half of 2014 figure of €1.55 billion.

Dutch-based Boskalis said its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) in the first half of the year amounted to €500.1 million – €466.4 million in the same period last year – and the operating profit (EBIT) was €359.3 million, up from €338.3 million in the first half of 2014.

It said its dredging and inland infrastructure division had an exceptionally busy first half from an operational point of view. It reported good results on the projects in progress, a high fleet use rate together with relatively low repair costs and a substantial contribution from financial settlements on projects completed earlier, and said these all contributed to the good result.

At the end of the first half of the year, the Boskalis order book stood at €2,963 million – at the end of 2014, it stood at €3,286 million. It said the decline in the order book was mainly a result of the completion of the sizable Suez Canal project and the sale of the activities of De Jong at the beginning of the year.

It sold its road maintenance company Aannemingsbedrijf De Jong en Zoon Beheer and the associated De Jong subsidiaries to its management and Foreman Capital.

The De Jong activities were taken over at the end of 2011 as part of the acquisition of MNO Vervat. De Jong is primarily active in the maintenance of the main road network and inland waterways in the Netherlands.