Construction group Ballast Nedam issued a profit warning on Friday after reporting operating profit stagnated at €42m last year. The company expects an operating profit of around €25m in 2009.

Turnover rose slightly to €1.4bn last year from €1.3bn in 2007, the company said. Net profit fell to €24m from €27m in the same period.
In a statement, Ballast Nedam said the property market stagnated in the fourth quarter of 2008 because of the economic crisis.
‘We expect a big fall in the volume of houses and utility buildings under construction in the coming years,’ the company says in a statement.