Bouygues Construction: first quarter profits slide

Profits at the construction arm of French corporate giant Bouygues fell by nearly a third to £41m in the first three months of the year on turnover up 4 per to £1.98bn.

Construction group performance was hit by further problems on the Gautrain rapid rail project in South Africa and falling income on cash surpluses because of low interest rates.

Bouygues said orders taken in the first three months of 2009 compared to the same period last year dropped 30%, but were stable compared to the previous quarter at £1.9bn. The construction order book stands at £10.5bn.

Bouygues also said it was lowering its sales forecast for the construction arm by 5 per cent to £7.8bn in 2009.

The separate Colas division of Bouygues saw sales slide 10 per cent to £1.7bn, blamed on seasonal conditions, plunging it into an operating loss of £100m.

Colas’ UK subsidiary recently picked up the area 7 MAC deal across the Yorkshire and Humber region, worth around £65 million to the firm over five years.

Colas now manages though its other MAC joint ventures in Area 14, 10 and 7 around a third of the entire British road network.