ACS posts 8% rise in quarterly net profit as US business grows (updated)
14/05/2024 12:54
(Adds detail on financial results, leading with net
attributable profit, context)
MADRID, May 14 (Reuters) - Spanish builder ACS ACS.MC
on Tuesday posted a 8% rise in first-quarter net profit, as the
company continues to benefit from its infrastructure contracts
in North America and from toll-road businesses.
The company booked a net attributable profit of 177 million
euros ($191.11 million), above the average of analysts'
expectations of 172.5 million euros in an LSEG survey.
Its first-quarter revenues of 8.7 billion euros ($9.39
billion) rose 8% from the same period last year, slightly
exceeding the 8.6 billion euros forecast by analysts.
The company's activities in North America, which include
large-scale data centres in several U.S. states, battery plants
and climate resilience contracts, accounted for 57% of total
revenues.
Abertis, one of the world's largest toll road operators
in which ACS holds a 50% stake, added 41 million euros to the
quarterly net profit as average traffic increased.
ACS told investors last month that it
plans to expand
its services in North America and Europe to provide
engineering solutions for energy, digital and hi-tech projects,
while continuing to focus on its core business of infrastructure
such as toll roads.
ACS expects its annual profit to reach between 850
million and 1 billion euros by 2026, up from 780 million last
year.
The company plans to invest around 2 billion euros in
creating a portfolio of data centres and infrastructure related
to artificial intelligence and 5G technology as part of a wider
plan to spend around 4 billion euros by 2030 to develop and
operate in new sectors such as green energy infrastructures.
($1 = 0.9262 euros)
(Reporting by Corina Pons, editing by Emma Pinedo and Inti
Landauro)
((corina.pons@thomsonreuters.com; 0034 690725854; Reuters
Messaging: corina.pons.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))