Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. saw revenue increase in the third quarter compared to the quarterly average for the first half of the year.
The operating profit (EBIT adjusted for extraordinary charges) also increased compared to the quarterly average for the first half of the year and the order book stood at EUR 3.8 billion, virtually stable compared to the end of June. Around EUR 0.5 billion of new contracts were acquired in the third quarter.
Boskalis maintains its profit outlook for the full year 2018. Barring unforeseen circumstances net operating profit in the second half of the year is expected to be sharply higher compared to the first half (EUR 34.5 million).
“However, the net result is not expected to match the level achieved in the second half of 2017 (EUR 75 million),” said Boskalis in its release .
Operational developments
The third quarter at Dredging & Inland Infra was relatively stable compared to the first half of the year.
After a busy first half, the utilization of the hopper fleet was a few weeks lower but on balance good given the conditions in the market. As expected, utilization of the cutter fleet was low in the third quarter but improved with the deployment of the Helios on the Duqm project as from September.
Revenue for the quarter was slightly higher than the quarterly average for the first half of the year. The results from ongoing dredging projects were lower compared to the first half of the year but there was also the usual positive contribution from the financial close out of projects that were technically completed previously.
The projects acquired in the third quarter were mainly port-related, in countries including Germany (maintenance dredging in the Weser), Kenya (Mombasa) and Finland (Mussalo).
Additional work was also acquired on the Duqm project in Oman which will ensure utilization of the Helios well into 2019. On balance, there was a slight decrease in the order book at Dredging & Inland Infra compared to mid-2018.
Since the end of the quarter Boskalis won the tender for the N69 New Connection road construction project in the Netherlands and announced it will carry out the dredging works for the development of the first large-scale LNG export facility in Kitimat, Canada (LNG Canada).