Construction company Ballast Nedam on Friday issued a profit warning because of the ‘very difficult’ market conditions.

Announcing first-half operating profit of €4bn, half that of 2011, the company said earlier forecasts about its full year performance were under pressure.
In particular, the company’s infrastructure and project development operations have been hit. Project development is now forecast to break even while at the group’s infrastructure operations, hopes of an increase in operating profit have now been revised down.
‘Volume in the market fell, leading to increasing competition and price pressure,’ the company said in a statement. ‘These results and the further deterioration of market conditions have put pressure on the March forecast of full-year 2012 results.’
However, ‘excellent’ results were achieved in a number of large multi-year projects and in the niche markets such as industrial construction, hospitals, offshore wind turbines, secondary raw materials and alternative fuels, the company said.