East European construction resists financial maelstrom

2 December 2011

Strabag hit double digit growth in its output volume for the first three quarters. Along with its nine-month report released on Wednesday, Central and Eastern Europe’s largest construction company announced workforce growth of 7 per cent. Half of the new employees were brought in with the acquisition of Germany-based Rimex.

CEO of Strabag, Hans Peter Haselsteiner, said, “The turbulence in Europe caused by the euro debt crisis has so far not affected the output or the expected results of Strabag. While state investment programmes in markets such as Germany had supported the construction industry through the middle of the year, the sector already has several difficult years behind it in countries with lower public-sector spending – such as Hungary – or in the Adriatic region.

The positive results were in part thanks to a milder winter and spring than the previous year, during which difficult weather conditions greatly reduced productivity.