Skanska reveals £14.6m profit

Skanska UK has returned to the black a year after making a loss of £41.5m and parting ways with former chief executive David Fison.

Its latest results show the UK arm of the Swedish firm made a profit of £14.6m on turnover of £747m in the six months to 30 June 2009.

Last year’s loss followed writedowns on PFI hospital jobs in Derby and Nottingham as a result of from spiralling costs.

Turnover at the group fell by 2% from £5.5bn to £5.35bn over the period and profit stood at £130m, down 18% from £158m last year.

Johan Karlstrom, the global chief executive, said: “In all our markets, the demand for building construction remains weak, both in residential and other private construction. Civil construction markets, where the public sector represents a significantly higher proportion of total volume, have not been as adversely affected.”

He singled out the US market in particular as one that will benefit from government stimulus packages.

In the UK, Karlstrom picked out the recent financial close of the M25 widening deal as a financial highlight, a job worth a total of £2.5bn to the company.

Citi analyst Mike Pinkney said the results for the second half of the period (April to June) were well ahead of expectations.