The COWI Group presents solid half-year results for 2014. The scope of projects in the pipeline for the remainder of the year, the current favourable market conditions across the world and the Group’s constant focus on optimising organisational processes mean that COWI expects this year’s results to exceed those of 2013.
In the first half of 2014, COWI delivered a turnover of DKK 2,694 million and an operating profit (EBIT) of DKK 95 million.
Expect to exceed last year’s results
”Overall, we’re pleased, and the half-year results match our expectations. Compared to the first half of 2013, which was extraordinarily good, we’ve seen a decrease in earnings. However, seeing as September, October and November are major production months and our order log is solid, I expect the second half of 2014 to be good, and I believe that we will achieve annual results that exceed those of 2013, which was a record year for COWI.
This positive trend will continue based on our PowerHouse 2015 strategy, which has formed the basis for developing our business since 2011 – and for phasing out activities in select areas,” says President, CEO of COWI, Lars-Peter Søbye.
New prestigious projects
Much of this optimism is based on the massive and very extensive investments in infrastructure taking place these years across the world. COWI has a strong position in infrastructure in Scandinavia and in North America. COWI is also among the leading consultants in the world within the specialist services of marine structures, tunnels, bridges, mapping and airports.
In the past six months, this has meant that COWI has won major projects such as the contract on traffic, planning and construction consultancy on the Ring 3 light rail (the section from Lundtofte north of Copenhagen to Ishøj in the south) and architectural consultancy on the light rail. Furthermore, we have won the prestigious Salvador-Itaparica bridge project in Brazil, the design of one of Sweden’s largest traffic centres, the Knutpunkten railway station in Helsingborg, and the expansion and refurbishment of Uganda’s largest airport in Kampala. In addition, COWI is a key supplier on preparing the Køge Nord-Næstved rail section for electrification.
COWI has also landed exciting projects in other parts of the business. For instance, the design of new high-tech headquarters for Statoil in the Stavanger region in Norway, and the competition for Sweden’s new skyscraper, which will be built in Gothenburg and will be the highest building in the Nordic countries.
Investing in competencies
COWI has continued to invest in specialist competencies via the acquisition of Danish railway consulting company Apsilon, which strengthened COWI’s competencies in railway modernisation. An area where we have seen solid growth of some 60 per cent in the past year. COWI also expects to see high demand in the future because railway signals in most of Scandinavia and the rest of Europe have to be replaced in order to optimise and harmonise train operations.
“The acquisition is part of our strategy to continually strengthen our competencies and increase our volume – especially in the fields of infrastructure, water and energy, where we expect to see vast growth in the future,” says Søbye and concludes: “In some areas, we have yet to realise our full potential. This applies to Norway and Sweden in particular where we’ve spent the past six months on restructuring and optimising processes in order to gear up the business for seizing the huge business potential that we are seeing on the Scandinavian market these years. We clearly expect these efforts to demonstrate their value by the end of the year.
Combined with a solid order book, a constant focus on optimising processes and reducing costs throughout the business, and targeted efforts to remain our customers’ first choice, I’m convinced that 2014 will be another great year for the COWI Group.”