YIT experiences tough fourth quarter

The fourth quarter results from Finnish contractor YIT have shown a year-on-year revenue decrease of 12% to €461 million.

CEO Kari Kauniskangas said the operating environment “continued to pose challenges” for the company, but stated it had maintained its operating cash flow and continued to implement a plan to improve competitiveness across the business.

The company’s annual results for 2014 were down 3% with revenues of €1.8 billion, which compared to figures of €1.85 billion for the previous year. Operating profit also reduced by 25% from €152.8 million in 2013, to €114 million last year.

However, there had been a reduction in its levels of debt - from €781 in 2013, to €696 million by the end of 2014.

Kari Kauniskangas, CEO, explained there had been areas of the company that had made progress, despite market pressures. He said there had been “record-high residential sales in Russia, as well as in the Baltic countries and Central Eastern Europe”.

His comments followed the company’s decision to adjust its operations in Russia due to uncertain conditions amid concerns over a significant fall in oil prices.

Kauniskangas said, “In business premises and infrastructure, our order backlog grew and our competitiveness improved due to reorganisation among other things. We also completed significant road projects ahead of schedule.

“Improving capital efficiency and achieving positive cash flow were our key objectives heading into 2014. Our capital release program bore fruit, and by reacting to the changed operating environment we managed to improve cash flow by €240 million year-on-year.”