Implenia with change of CEO in 2025 – Good first half-year
Published: Wednesday, Aug 21st 2024, 08:40
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There will be a change at the top of Implenia: after more than six years, CEO André Wyss will step down at the end of March 2025. His successor will be Jens Vollmar, who will head the Buildings Division. Implenia generated a surprisingly high operating profit in the first half of the year.
"After six and a half years at Implenia, I have decided to step back from operational activities next spring and focus my efforts on existing and new mandates," Wyss explained in a press release on Wednesday. Following a comprehensive transformation, Implenia is optimally positioned, can continue to grow profitably and is ready for the next strategic phase.
Chairman of the Board of Directors Hans Ulrich Meister praised Wyss: "With far-sighted and courageous action, he has shaped Implenia into a financially sound, integrated, multinational construction and real estate services provider." The Group is excellently positioned in the market.
Jens Vollmar will become the new CEO on April 1, 2025, it was announced. He has been with Implenia since 2013 and Head of the Building Construction Division since 2015.
Expectations exceeded in the first half of the year
In the first half of the year, turnover rose by 1.2 percent to 1.74 billion Swiss francs, as Switzerland's largest construction group announced in a separate press release. The strong Swiss franc had a negative impact on the company. Adjusted for currency effects, turnover would have risen by 2.7 percent.
Operating profit (EBIT) increased by 1.0% to CHF 50.5 million. However, net profit fell by almost a fifth to 26.4 million francs. At 7.08 billion, the order backlog at the end of June was once again higher than at the end of 2023.
Implenia's figures met analysts' expectations in terms of sales, but exceeded even the most optimistic forecasts in terms of profits.
Group CEO: "Good result"
"We once again achieved a good result in the first half of 2024 and delivered a consistent performance," explained CEO Wyss. Large projects with high requirements can be delivered reliably and profitably. In addition, the broadly diversified portfolio is also proving its worth in the current difficult market situation: Implenia has been able to compensate for the weaker order intake in building construction by acquiring large infrastructure projects.
The Buildings division, which constructs special high-rise buildings such as data centers, increased its EBIT by a good CHF 10 million to CHF 28.9 million. The acquired real estate service provider Wincasa contributed CHF 8.1 million to this. The integration of Wincasa went according to plan: Synergies have been realized, Implenia wrote. A joint range of services is also being developed.
The Civil Engineering division (civil engineering and tunnels) was also able to improve its profitability: At CHF 12.2 million, EBIT exceeded expectations after CHF 11.7 million in the previous year, Implenia continued to write. The order backlog reached a new record.
The Real Estate division still achieved an EBIT of CHF 6.8 million. This is a massive decline compared to the previous year (16.1 million). However, no real estate projects have been sold in the current year. "For this reason, EBIT is in line with expectations", the Group wrote. Transactions are in preparation for the second half of the year.
Financial targets confirmed
The Group confirmed its financial targets: Implenia expects an operating profit (EBIT) of around CHF 130 million in the current financial year, compared with CHF 122.6 million in the previous year. Inflation and interest rates have fallen slightly in recent months, which will support the future development of the real estate and construction industry, it said: "Implenia also expects an increase in incoming orders in building construction in the second half of the year."
In the medium term, the EBIT margin should rise to over 4.5 percent and an equity ratio of 25 percent should be achieved. In the first half of the year, Implenia reported a virtually stable equity ratio of 19.7 percent.
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