The company said that its results were in line with management expectations given very difficult market circumstances. The order book stood at €10.8bn at the end of the first half of this year, up from €10.4bn at the end of 2011.
"Our operating companies posted generally satisfactory results in the first half of 2012 in the face of a worsening outlook in the Netherlands and challenging conditions in our other European home markets," said Royal BAM Group chairman Nico de Vries. "Our PPP business is on track with a promising bid pipeline. In view of the deterioration in the property market in the Netherlands, we now assume that our future Dutch property developments will be later (in timing), fewer (in number) and lower (in average selling price)."
He added that this led to an operational loss of €10m for property and non-cash impairments totalling €398m, including writing down the value of the land bank by a quarter. "Looking ahead, we will keep focusing on reinforcing our financial position and reducing invested capital in property as quickly as market conditions permit; realising intra-Group synergies and winning new multi-disciplinary contracts; and accessing the opportunities in international markets," he said. "We will continue to manage carefully the trade-off between risks and rewards when bidding for new contracts. We forecast a result before tax and impairments from continuing operations of at least €100 million for the full year 2012, based on an expected margin of around 2% for construction and mechanical and electrical services and civil engineering."
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