Skanska reports a profit before tax of SEK 540 million for the first quarter of the year. This can be compared with SEK 1,860 million in the corresponding quarter a year earlier.
Revenue fell to SEK 34.9 billion, from SEK 37.8 billion a year earlier.
Analysts had on average expected revenues of 35.6 billion according to Bloomberg. The result was also weaker than expected, with an operating profit of SEK 394 million, against an average forecast of just over twice that.
Order intake in the construction business fell to SEK 25.8 billion, down from SEK 30 billion a year earlier.
“Adjusted for exchange rate effects, order intake decreased on a quarterly basis by 18 percent. In the rolling 12 months, order intake in relation to turnover was 99 percent,” writes Skanska in the report.
CEO Anders Danielsson sees no cow on the ice.
“Order intake varies significantly between quarters, the somewhat weaker first quarter this year follows a very strong third and fourth quarter last year. The market outlook for our largest markets, the US and the Nordics, is stable or strong, and we have a strong order backlog with good projects”, he writes in the report.