Skanska orders fall due to stimulus package announcements

Skanska has revealed the announcement of US stimulus packages, in the short term, had a negative effect on civil construction markets in North America.

The company believed previously approved projects were held back and new projects postponed in the hope of gaining government stimulus funds.

President and CEO, Johan Karlstrom said, "The first quarter downturn in order bookings at Skanska's US civil construction operations was due to the postponement of projects to enable them to potentially qualify for funding from federal stimulus packages.

"We now see a clear increase in the number of projects however, and we expect a recovery in the order situation through 2009 for our US operations," said Mr Karlstrom.

Mr Karlstrom's comments were made as Skanska reported first quarter sales of SEK 30,8 billion (€ 2,9 billion), down -2% on the SEK 31,5 billion (€ 3 billion) recorded 12 months previously. Pre-tax profits for the period also fell from SEK 1 billion (€ 103 million) to SEK 675 million (€ 64 million), a 37,5% decrease.

Order backlog in the first quarter fell -1% to SEK 141,7 billion (€ 13,4 billion), down from SEK 143,2 billion (€ 13,6 billion) 12 months earlier.