Peab sees plan paying off

A positive first half to the year has been reported by Swedish contractor Peab, which said that a strong Swedish housing market had contributed to good market conditions.

It said that an action plan implemented in 2013 was having the intended effect and that operations were developing according to plan.

CEO and president Jesper Göransson said, “The measures we have taken to raise group profitability are producing the planned effects. We see how the work method and new organisation structure we are working with support our earning goals.

“Based on stable market conditions, we continue to work on increasing customer focus on the local market.”

Net sales amounted to SEK20.89 billion (€2.28 billion) compared to SEK19.54 billion (€2.13 billion) for the same period last year. Operating profit was SEK657 million (€71.78 million) compared to last year’s loss of SEK478 million (€52.22 million). Last year’s operating profit was charged with one-off costs of SEK920 million (€100.51 million).

Peab said orders received during the first half year amounted to SEK16.67 billion (€1.82 billion), down from SEK18.79 billion (€2.05 billion) at this point last year.

Order backlog was also slightly down at SEK27.50 billion (€3.00 billion) from SEK30.59 billion (€3.34 billion) last year.