Further growth in VolkerWessels profit

Operating income rose by around 11%. This arises partly from exchange rate effects and three acquisitions by Building and Property Development in the Netherlands. The liquidity position also developed favourably. At the end of 2015, after deduction of interest-bearing debt, the liquidity was € 153 million. This is an improvement of around €100 million compared to the end of 2014.

After a dividend payment of €50 million, solvency increased, from 26 to 27%. As did our order book, which exhibited further growth to €7billion, a historically high level.

CFO Jan van Rooijen: “All the sectors within VolkerWessels have contributed to these good operating results. This is despite changing market conditions for our sectors, where overcapacity and low margins, especially in the infrastructure sector continue to be a particular concern. Our good performance was the result of operational and financial discipline. This means managing our upside opportunities combined with a focus on delivering margin rather than volume, cost control and maintaining a healthy risk-return ratio.”

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