Despite a sharp drop in profits in the past financial year, the 150-year-old construction group Porr sees itself well prepared for the future. CEO Karl-Heinz Strauss expects the construction industry to benefit from the corona crisis. “There will be economic stimulus programs,” said the CEO at the annual press conference. Digitization is also playing into the hands of the industry.
Porr has worked more or less since the outbreak of the corona crisis in March. According to Strauss, 80 percent of construction sites in Austria were closed for 14 days to three weeks. “Today we work again with 80 percent of the output, in Austria at 90 and soon again at 100 percent,” said the CEO. Everything in compliance with the new hygiene regulations, as Strauss emphasized.
In Austria, Porr sent over 9,000 employees on short-time work. Travel restrictions for employees, including workers from Eastern Europe, have now been lifted again. “The construction workers are all back, everyone is working again,” said the CEO. The group had an average of 19,800 employees in 2019.
“We are all very affected by the scale and intensity of the Covid-19 crisis,” said the Porr chief. “Many believe that this will be a turning point in our history – I think it will be an accelerator.” The world will continue to be economically globalized, politically fragmented and technologically digitized. “The crisis shows us a world of streaming, online trading and virtual meeting rooms.” The path is now increasingly leading there.
The damage caused by the corona virus in Europe and especially in Austria “is already there”. The unemployment rate is high and will continue to rise. “It will be seen whether this will lead to financial crises in some countries.”
As a tribute to the corona crisis, Porr is cutting the dividend for 2019. Originally, a significantly reduced distribution of only 40 cents per share (2018: 1.1 euros) was considered, but “mainly due to uncertainty at Covid”, the dividend will be dropped this time. “We also have employee and management salary cuts,” added Strauss. Now “all stakeholders should make a contribution”, including the shareholders. Details: Porr cancels the dividend for the previous year entirely >>
“2019 was – after years of growth – characterized by consolidation and selective growth,” said CFO Andreas Sauer. Net profit plummeted by almost 60 percent to just under EUR 28 million. Special depreciation on projects in Norway and Poland weighed on the result. The first-time application of the IFRS accounting standard had a positive effect of EUR 40 million on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). “However, these are fully offset by the negative effects in Norway and Poland,” said Sauer. Detailed presentation of the results on the next page >>
However, Porr sees itself as “well equipped” for the further course of the corona crisis – in addition to the prospect of economic stimulus packages and increasing digitalization, the well-filled order cushion of a good 7 billion euros is also optimistic. “Our high order backlog is a good foundation,” said Strauss. (apa / red)
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