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The construction industry will benefit from the crown crisis, expects Porr construction group CEO Karl-Heinz Strauss. “There will be stimulus programs,” Strauss said yesterday at the annual online news conference.
Porr has been working in groups more or less since the outbreak of the crown crisis in March. However, in Austria, 80 percent of construction sites were closed for 14 days to three weeks, according to Strauss. “Today we are working again with 80 percent of production, in Austria with 90 and soon again with 100 percent,” Strauss said.
In Austria, Porr sent more than 9,000 employees on short-term jobs. Travel restrictions for employees, including Eastern European workers, have already been removed. “All the construction workers are back, they are all working again,” said the CEO. The group employed an average of 19,800 people in 2019.
“We are all very affected by the scale and intensity of the Covid-19 crisis,” said Porr chief. “Many believe that this will be a turning point in our history, I think it will be an accelerator.” The world will continue to be economically globalized, politically fragmented, and technologically digitized. “The crisis shows us a world of streaming, online commerce, and virtual meeting rooms.” The road now leads more and more there.
Due to the crown crisis, Porr will cut the dividend for 2019. This has been discussed for a long time. “After years of growth, 2019 was characterized by consolidation and selective growth,” said Chief Financial Officer Andreas Sauer.
The consolidated profit fell massively by almost 60 percent to just under 28 million euros. Special depreciation on projects in Norway and Poland weighed on the result.
The first application of the IFRS accounting standard had a positive effect of 40 million euros on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda). “However, these are fully offset by the negative effects in Norway and Poland,” said Sauer. The Porr Group sees itself “well prepared” for the later course of the crown crisis.
