Chairman of the Executive Board
After the first nine months of 2009, HOCHTIEF is on top form. New contracts lifted our order backlog to a record high of EUR 35.3 billion, which makes a forward order book of almost 21 months. Operating earnings and profit before taxes continued to rise, both clearly outperforming the prior-year period. By the end of the third quarter, consolidated net profit grew to more than EUR 124 million— an increase of nearly 43 percent compared with the same period in 2008. The excellent figures show that we have again done a great job in the first three quarters of 2009.
The good cooperation within the Group has continued with huge success. The integrated capabilities of its subsidiaries allow HOCHTIEF to offer full service from a single source—this benefits our clients, the company and its shareholders. There were also great new examples of partnerships within the Group in this quarter, such as the cooperation between HOCHTIEF Projektentwicklung and HOCHTIEF Facility Management on the Zentraler Omnibusbahnhof (ZOB) central bus station in Munich.
We further the development of HOCHTIEF continually and dynamically, at the same time weighing every opportunity throughout the Group to further enhance our excellent positioning. Within this framework, we are also currently examining strategic options for the HOCHTIEF Concessions division, for example, capital market transactions. An initial public offering of HOCHTIEF Concessions is among the options being considered in this context. No concrete decisions have yet been taken on whether and when to execute such a transaction. Regardless of this decision, we continue to see the concessions business as an integral element of the HOCHTIEF Group and intent to keep the majority of shares also in the event of an IPO.
We continue to place great emphasis on sustainability, for instance, green building, energy efficiency and the use of renewable energies. This not only benefits the environment and society, but also boosts HOCHTIEF’s financial power. We document this again with transparent information and reliable figures in our latest Sustainability Report*. In order to meet our own in-house standards, we have launched a climate protection campaign at HOCHTIEF in which all employees are involved. Our commitment and performance in the area of sustainability were recognized once again: We are proud that our company has been listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes for the fourth time in a row—a clear mark of confidence in our sustainable business management.
Group outlook
We are raising our forecast for the order backlog for fiscal 2009 and now expect it to exceed the prior-year figure. Nine months into the year, we also once again confirm our Group forecast for fiscal 2009 and anticipate that new orders and Group sales will steady at normal levels, below the high figures attained in 2008.
We aim to generate a similarly high level of pretax profit and consolidated net profit to that attained in the previous year, taking into account the restating of our figures due to the first-time application of IFRIC 15**.
Although the situation on the international financial markets is now relatively calm a certain degree of forecasting uncertainty remains. Our planning is based on the assumption that the financial and capital markets will normalize again from 2010.
HOCHTIEF is still well on track. We have so far steered a successful course through the financial crisis because we had already kept our structures streamlined in the past and framed our financing policy conservatively. We are ready to take on new challenges and hope you will continue with us on this journey!
Dr.-Ing. Herbert Lütkestratkötter