PORR gives convincing performance in 2016 with renewed increases in output and earnings

• Production output up to EUR 3,925m, +11.4%
• EBT improves by 12.3% to EUR 91.1m 
• Order backlog of EUR 4,804m at record level
• Positive outlook for 2017 business year
   

Vienna, 25 April 2017 – In 2016 PORR continued with its successful course and achieved new highs in output, earnings and the order backlog, despite a difficult backdrop. Production output of EUR 3,925m was up by 11.4% against the previous year – and more than 87% was generated on the home markets of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Poland and the Czech Republic. Austria remained the strongest market by some margin, with PORR generating more than half of its total production output here. There was a significant increase on the German market, where PORR has established itself as a reliable partner to German industry in recent years. 
 
“Since 2011 we have been consistently realising our ‘intelligent growth’ strategy, with which we have been exceptionally successful. This is how we are succeeding in our home markets as a leading construction company and how we managed to have the best ever year in our history in 2016”, said Karl-Heinz Strauss, CEO of PORR AG. “On the project markets we are acclaimed partners with our special competencies in infrastructure. And we are also constantly evaluating the potential of attractive new target markets. We stay true to our guiding principle, ‘earnings over output’, in everything we do.”
 
Exceptional order situation 
 
In addition to output, the cushion of orders also increased. In the year under review the order backlog rose by 4.9% and reached a new record level of EUR 4,804m. At EUR 4,150m, the order intake was 2.6% above the high value of the previous year. The largest new tenders included the D4/R7 motorway section, the Bratislava Bypass in Slovakia, the Al Wakrah football stadium in Qatar, the office building Europaallee Zurich, lot F, for the Swiss Federal Railways and the first tunnelling order in Norway. PORR was awarded the tender to build a 5.5km-long section of County Road 17 in the Nordland Province by Nordland Fylkeskommune/Statens vegvesen.
 
Earnings significantly higher than previous year 
 
Earnings also rose significantly in line with the growth in output. EBITDA increased by 12.9% in 2016 to EUR 187.3m, while EBIT of EUR 100.1m was as much as 14.0% above the previous year. Thanks to improvements in the operating cost structure, PORR succeeded in increasing earnings before taxes (EBT) by 12.3% year-on-year to EUR 91.1m. The slight growth in tax expense compared to the previous year led to a lower increase in consolidated profit of 9.5% to EUR 66.8m. Despite corporate acquisitions and an increase in turnover, total assets/equity and liabilities of EUR 2,360m were just 2.5% above the level of the previous year. The growth in assets was offset by the reduction in cash and cash equivalents. The net cash position remained positive at EUR 53.3m. 
 
 
Attractive dividend policy
Earnings per share rose by 10.4% to EUR 2.23. In light of the positive business performance, the Executive Board of PORR AG will propose to the AGM on 23 May 2017 a dividend of EUR 1.10 per dividend-bearing share for the last business year. This represents a 10.0% increase against the previous year. In 2016 the dividend per dividend-bearing share stood at EUR 1.00. In addition, PORR paid out a special one-off dividend of EUR 0.50 last year.
 
Outlook
 
One issue that PORR will be addressing even more intensively in 2017 is the advancing digitalisation of the construction industry. As part of the “Roadmap 2020”, the company is not only optimising processes, but also setting key milestones towards a “paperless construction site” – as well as the digitalisation of the value chain and securing a basis for far-reaching digital processes. 
 
The combination of enhanced profitability and a very good order situation, paired with excellent earnings last year and liquidity that is above average for the industry, has led the PORR Executive Board to assume further increases in output and earnings for the current business year 2017.