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Vienna, 25 April 2007 – “During the outstanding 2006 financial year, STRABAG came a giant step closer to its long-term strategic goal of becoming Europe’s leading construction group,” a satisfied STRABAG SE CEO Dr. Hans Peter Haselsteiner sums up the year. “We were able to break several barriers last year. For the first time in company history, STRABAG employs more than 50,000 people and turns over more than EUR 10 billion in construction output. In Austria, we passed the two-billion mark in terms of construction output and in our largest market – Germany – we have reached the four-billion mark.” Particularly satisfactory is the improvement of all our operating results. “Not only can we grow, we can also lead the company more efficiently,” Dr. Haselsteiner said on the occasion of the presentation of the 2006 financial results. At least as important is that this positive development – in terms of construction output as much as profit and revenue – is also reflected in nearly all the regional markets as well as in the three group business segments Building Construction & Civil Engineering, Road Construction, and Tunnelling & Services. Says Dr. Haselsteiner: “We have no problem children, neither on the country nor on the segment level. On the contrary, this positive development can be seen at all levels and we are very optimistic about the current financial year as a result.”
STRABAG’s overall construction output volume grew by 11.5% from EUR 9.3 billion in 2005 to around EUR 10.4 billion in 2006. The concentration on organic growth in the 2006 financial year occurred above all in several important markets in Central and Eastern Europe and could be explained by an increased level of construction output in all segments. The growth rate of the construction volume of the STRABAG Group was considerably higher than the growth rate of the construction industry as a whole in the respective countries. Only in Hungary did the construction output volume decline following the completion of several major motorway projects the previous year. Overall, however, “STRABAG was able to expand its leadership position on a number of markets”, Dr. Haselsteiner said.
Highlighting the positive development of the group’s construction volume, the project volume grew 7.3% to EUR 8.5 billion year-on-year by the end of December 2006. In 2006, STRABAG landed the largest single deal in company history. Since the summer of last year, STRABAG has been building 90 km of motorway in the Marche region in a project involving a total of 30 tunnels. The total volume of this prestigious project amounts to EUR 1.15 billion, with STRABAG’s share coming to 40%. For the first time, STRABAG is involved in construction on all five of the world’s continents. “Our order books are well filled in all segments, guaranteeing that our growth dynamic will not diminish,” Dr. Haselsteiner added. The total level of employment was up from 44,513 to 52,971 by the end of the year. STRABAG is the second-largest Austrian company in terms of the number of employees.
Strong profit growth
“The exemplary performance by all our employees, combined with the optimal use of the available resources, made possible the excellent results in the 2006 financial year. Like the year before, the results were above the industry average,” Dr. Haselsteiner summarises the profit situation. The diversification according to country and segment lends the group stability and a solid earnings base.
| Important figures for STRABAG in million EUR | 2006 | 2005 | Change in % | | | | | | Construction output | 10,385 | 9,315 | +11.5% | | Revenue | 9,431 | 6,956 | +35.6% | | Project volume | 8,507 | 7,927 | +7.3% | | Return on Sales in % (EBIT/revenue) | 3.6% | 2.3% | +57.1% | | EBITDA | 573 | 342 | +67.7% | | EBIT | 343 | 163 | +110.4% | | Earnings before minority interest | 224 | 95 | +135.8% | | Investments | 347 | 305 | +13.8% | | Liquid assets at balance sheet date | 586 | 556 | +5.4% | | Equity ratio in % | 18.6% | 17.7% | +5.1% | | Employment level at balance sheet date | 52,971 | 44,513 | +19.0% |
Segment Report
The company’s segments are Building Construction & Civil Engineering, Road Construction, and Tunnelling & Services. The Building Construction & Civil Engineering segment as well as Road Construction earned the most in 2006, accounting for 47.2% and 44.7% of STRABAG’s overall construction output volume, respectively. The Tunnelling & Services segment may be the smallest, contributing 6.7% to the overall construction volume, but accounted for around one quarter of consolidated EBIT.
In the Building Construction & Civil Engineering segment, STRABAG is well-positioned in Austria, Germany and the CEE countries. The company has at its disposal an innovative and broad range of products and has a leading position among complex engineering works. STRABAG has a particularly high level of expertise in the business, with major turnkey projects in infrastructure, industry and environmental projects.
The Road Construction segment contributed EUR 4.6 billion to STRABAG’s construction volume in 2006 – a plus of 11.4% year-on-year. STRABAG is market leader in terms of construction output volume in Germany and Austria and among the top three in the Central and Eastern European growth markets of Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland (following the acquisition of NCC Roads Polska Sp.z.o.o.). With the exception of Hungary (see above), STRABAG’s construction output grew in all markets. The project volume in the segment declined slightly year-on-year by 5.8% to EUR 1.986 billion. As many road construction projects are completed in less than one year, the year-end project volume can only in part provide meaningful insight into the segment as compared to the other two segments.
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