VolkerWessels’ net result from continuing operations € 142 million (+38%); final dividend of € 0.77 per share
Koninklijke VolkerWessels N.V. (“VolkerWessels” or the “Company”), a listed market-leading, multi-branded construction company based in the Netherlands, reports an increased EBITDA of € 265 million (+4.3%) and an increased net result from continuing operations of € 142 million (+38%) for 2017. VolkerWessels proposes to pay a final dividend of € 0.77 per share on 16 May 2018, making the total dividend for 2017 € 1.05.
HIGHLIGHTS 2017 (compared to 2016 or 31 December 2016)
- Net result from continuing operations of € 142 million* (+38%)
- EBITDA up from € 254 million to € 265 million* (+4.3%)
- ROCE up 420 basis points to 21.8%
- Solvency ratio stable at 31.5%
- Net cash position improved by € 108 million to € 297 million
- Revenue up € 224 million to € 5,714 million (+4.1%)
- Order book remains historically high at € 8,091 million
- Proposed final dividend of € 0.77 per share (total dividend of € 1.05 per share)
- At this moment, we expect our 2018 results to increase versus 2017 and we reconfirm that we are on track to meet our medium-term objectives
Jan de Ruiter, Chairman of the Management Board
“2017 proved to be a year of growth and - overall - positive developments. Our net result from continuing operations increased by € 39 million to € 142 million. We benefited from gradually improving market conditions in 2017. This led to an increase in both revenue and EBITDA in 2017, whereby our revenue increased by 4.1% and our EBITDA by 4.3% from € 254 million to € 265 million. Our EBITDA margin was stable at 4.6%. Our free cash flow increased from € 198 million to € 231 million and the return on capital employed increased by 420 bps to 21.8%.
We regret that we experienced a severe setback at the construction of the sea lock at IJmuiden (“project OpenIJ”). Nevertheless, despite the provision of € 67.5 million for this project, our infra division remained profitable in 2017, a clear sign of the underlying strength of the division.
Where the market for local infrastructure projects is improving, we notice a continued highly competitive market for large, multidisciplinary infra projects (> € 150 million). The combination of high unrecoverable tender costs for lost tenders and the unattractive DBFM contract form, warrant an even more selective approach vis-à-vis these projects.
We are proud that all our divisions once again contributed to our net result in 2017. Especially with the long period of low inflation and low interest rates coming to an end, profitable growth (margin over volume) remains our focus going forward.
As we expect the markets and geographies in which we operate to develop positively in 2018, we are confident that our results for 2018 will increase versus 2017 and reconfirm that we are on track to meet our medium-term objectives, as defined at the time of our IPO in May 2017”.