Royal Boskalis Westminster achieved a record result in 2010, with net profit rising 36% to an all-time high of € 310.5 million (2009: € 227.9 million). Revenue growth of 23% to € 2.7 billion represented another new record (2009: € 2.2 billion).
The operating result (EBIT) rose by 61% to € 401.9 million (2009: € 249.3 million). Boskalis’ core Dredging & Earthmoving activities achieved an exceptionally strong result, partly due to the good quality of the projects in the order book, a successful operational year and the settlement of a number of projects. The result also included a pre-tax gain of € 33.6 million in connection with the settlement of a number of long-running insurance and other equipment-related claims.
In addition, the operating result (EBIT) included a contribution from the SMIT business units of € 72.1 million, net of one-off acquisition-related expenses. The result from the SMIT activities was lower compared to the same period of last year.
The total order book, including the SMIT order book, stood at € 3,248 million at the end of 2010 (end-2009: 2,875 million).
Peter Berdowski, CEO: “It is with some pride that we look back on a historic year. 2010 marked the Boskalis centenary and it was also the year in which we successfully joined up with SMIT. On top of that, 2010 was an exceptionally good year from a financial perspective. Last year our dredging activities clearly reaped the benefits of our selective project-contracting policy that we pursued over the past few years, which enabled us to realize the highest ever margins on work from both the order book and from older projects that we settled. All this was achieved in deteriorated market conditions – the volume of work in the market stagnated whilst capacity increased. Nevertheless, market prospects for the medium term are favorable, mainly due to large-scale investment plans in the oil and gas industry and global developments in the ports sector.
The addition of SMIT is delivering a good contribution to the result. The enthusiasm and speed with which both organizations are now working together is also important. To provide the group with focus in its new composition and to set priorities with regard to our growth ambitions, we have drafted a new three-year business plan which we will be presenting in the near future. This plan lays the foundation for the further expansion of our great company.”
