Swedish builder Skanska misses Q3 profit forecast (updated)
06/11/2025 06:48
Q3 operating income of SEK 1.4 billion misses forecast
Books SEK 658 million US properties impairment
Shares down 4.5%
Adds share move in paragraph 1-2, details on impairment in paragraph 6, analyst and CEO quotes in paragraphs 7-8
By Agnieszka Gosciak and Jagoda Darlak
Nov 6 (Reuters) - Swedish builder Skanska SKAb.ST reported third-quarter earnings that were below market expectations on Thursday and said it had identified losses in the value of a few of its U.S. properties, sending its shares down almost 5%.
Shares in Skanska were down 4.5% as of 0833 GMT.
The Nordic region's largest builder said that its operating profit rose to 1.4 billion Swedish crowns ($148.7 million) from 1.3 billion a year earlier, missing the 1.99 billion crowns expected by analysts polled by LSEG.
"Group capital turnover is impacted by low activity in real estate transaction markets but over the past couple of years we have taken measures to right-size the business and have been selective with project starts," CEO Anders Danielsson said in an earnings statement.
While the overall construction market outlook remains stable, it varies between regions. In the Nordics, residential development continues to face subdued demand, particularly in Sweden, where weak sales and profitability persist, the company said.
Skanska said that it wrote down 658 million Swedish crowns on some US properties within its commercial property development business, which resulted in a loss for that business in the quarter. The value is equivalent to 3.4 percent of the total commercial property development portfolio in the United States.
Jefferies said in a note to clients that Skanska's third-quarter results were hit by U.S. property impairments, but strong construction margins of 4.2%, an improved Nordic and European commercial real estate outlook, and in-line net profit helped offset the impact.
Asked about the writedowns, the CEO Anders Danielsson told Reuters that their impact was not significant. "There is no drama in that," he said.
Order intake at Skanska's biggest construction division fell to 39.9 billion crowns in the quarter, from 50.8 billion last year.
($1 = 9.4155 Swedish crowns)
(Reporting by Agnieszka Gosciak-Rabalska and Jagoda Darlak in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak and Matt Scuffham)
((agnieszka.gosciak@thomsonreuters.com))