Construction output increased by four percent to 16.13 billion euros. CEO Thomas Birtel and CFO Christian Harder presented these figures yesterday at the balance sheet press conference for 2021.
It is less gratifying that the group’s core Russian shareholder, Oleg Deripaska, is struggling. He holds 27.8 percent of Strabag through “Rasperia Trading Limited”. “We are taking every legally possible step to clearly distance ourselves from our Russian shareholder and to prevent any form of influence,” Birtel said.
According to Birtel, this was not least done with the early decision not to pay a dividend to Rasperia. A buyback of the shares would currently not be possible due to the sanctions. Paying the dividend later would also be conceivable if the sanctions against Deripaska were lifted. Anything else would be expropriation.
The construction group is withdrawing completely from Russia. “We decided in March to do business with Russia. In view of the size, we don’t expect any economic disruptions here,” said the CEO. Most recently, Strabag in Russia achieved around 50 million or 0.3 percent of the group’s construction output.
3500 skilled workers are missing
Like all construction companies, Strabag is also struggling with supply chains and material prices, but above all with the lack of skilled workers. According to Birtel, 3,000 to 3,500 people are missing, “a very, very high number”. They were particularly lacking in the technical area and at all levels. Strabag employed 73,606 people (full-time equivalents) worldwide in 2021, one percent fewer than in 2020.
The outlook for the current 2022 financial year is uncertain in view of the Ukraine war, but remains unchanged for the time being with a planned construction output of 16.6 billion euros. This would correspond to the high level of 2019, the time before the pandemic.
You can already see war-related material bottlenecks and price increases, said CEO Birtel. It is known that the unusually high EBIT margin of 5.9 percent cannot be maintained this year. However, the aim is to achieve at least four percent this year and in the years to come. (hn)
Source: Nachrichten
