Veidekke sees backlog jump in Q2

Norwegian contractor and property developer Veidekke reported a strong second quarter for 2013 with total order backlog at NOK18.2 billion (€2.3 billion), an increase of 11% from 2012 year end.

The group's total revenue for the quarter was NOK5.4 billion (€685 million), comparable with figures for the second quarter of 2012, while earnings amounted to NOK145 million (€18.4 million), compared with NOK166 million (€21 million) during the same period in 2012.

President and CEO Arne Giske said, "Earnings were boosted by the encouraging growth in earnings for Construction Norway and the Swedish residential operations, but unfortunately they were also affected by losses for Construction Sweden."

The group’s construction operations achieved total revenue of NOK4.28 million (€545,000), up from NOK4.18 million (€530,000) for 2012. This amounted to an increase of 7% compared with the same period the previous year.

Veidekke attributed the increase to high activity in the building and construction market and good access to appropriate projects.

In Sweden, the group saw its construction operations decline marginally as a result of volume decline and some project write-downs. In Denmark, construction operations increased to 3.5% (2.8%) during the quarter, due to a higher quality project portfolio.