• Total Revenue +46% € 547 million (2010: € 376 million)
• Underlying EBITA +30% € 22.1 million (2010: € 17 million)
• Profit after tax +49% € 6.1 million (2010: € 4.1 million)
• Organic growth in all business lines except for Planning & Design
• Agreement to convert Netherlands pension scheme to defined contribution
• Telecoms divestment on schedule
• Forward orders stable, but pricing pressure continues

 
Sylvo Thijsen, CEO Grontmij N.V.: "In the second quarter of 2011 we continued to stabilize our business in Europe under difficult market circumstances, through key planned structural improvements and increased marketing and tendering activities. Growth overall is stable.

Organic growth remained strongest in our Transportation & Mobility and Water & Energy business lines, and in particular in the Nordic region. In France trading was strong for Monitoring & Testing and Telecom. On the other hand, the cost-cutting programs of most European governments were mainly felt in Planning & Design particularly in the UK and in the Netherlands. This has led to increased and severe price competition. Overall, our forward order book remained stable and at satisfactory levels for the next half year.

We were awarded some significant contracts during the quarter; in Planning & Design we were awarded a contract by the city of Toulouse for the renovation of the city’s science park. In Transportation & Mobility we gained a place on England’s Highways Agency’s Project Support Framework enabling us to partake in upcoming major infrastructure projects on England’s strategic road network. In Monitoring & Testing we gained a key contract in the city of Nice (France) for geotechnical testing for two new tram lines, and in the UK we gained a significant contract with Yorkshire Water for telemetry testing. In Water & Energy we gained valuable contracts for waste management in Poland, a large bio-energy plant in Norway and Germany, and an advisory contract in Turkey with the Turkish Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

Subsequently we have had a major contract award for the project planning of the new Stockholm ring road, a multi-million contract that secures for many years the workload for our Transportation & Mobility business line in Sweden. We also continue to see good development generally elsewhere in our pipeline opportunities.

In the last few months we have concluded some important and positive structural changes in the business:

We have continued with good progress on our office property reduction project with target reductions of more than 30% over a five year period.

We concluded the process of agreeing the transfer of the pension scheme in the Netherlands from a defined benefit scheme to a collective defined contribution scheme. This will considerably reduce the potential volatility in long term liabilities for the Group’s balance sheet for the future. In comparison to 2010 the non-cash impact of the new pension agreement will result in on average €1.5m per quarter higher employee expenses in the Netherlands for the current year.

We have continued our focus on improving working capital management, which together with the planned proceeds from the divestment of the Telecoms business, and other non-core activities will continue the overall deleveraging of the Group’s balance sheet for full 2011. Combined with de-risking the long term balance sheet by converting the pension scheme in the Netherlands this means a more stable platform for future growth."

<ENDS>

Note to editors
Grontmij is a leading sustainable design and management consultancy active in four business lines: Planning & Design, Transportation & Mobility, Water & Energy, Monitoring & Testing.

At the heart of our business is the sustainability by design principle. It is a leading value proposition for our customers. Grontmij is the fourth largest engineering consultancy in Europe with almost 300 offices across the region and a further 50 offices globally. We have nearly 11,000 professionals around the world.

Download the press release

Press release - Grontmij first Half 2011 results

Persbericht - Grontmij - halfjaarcijfers 2011


Interim Financial Statements

Interim Financial Statements 2011