Renaissance ups Porr stake

Turkish construction company Renaissance has increased its interest in Austria’s third-biggest building company.

Porr AG announced today (Thurs) that its cooperation partner acquired an additional 5,700 shares. This purchase means Renaissance now holds 10.07 per cent in the Vienna-based company. Construction businessman Karl Heinz Strauss – who succeeded Wolfgang Hesoun as executive chief of Porr last year – holds a six per cent interest in the firm.

Porr is the number three on the domestic building sector behind Viennese rival Strabag SE and Salzburg-based Alpine Bau.

Strauss warned last month that the construction sector was unlikely to experience a significant boost in the foreseeable future as public spending on infrastructure projects and roadwork engagements has been reduced following the economic downturn.

The Porr boss explained he expected his firm’s turnover to stagnate this year. Strauss added that a “slight increase” was possible next year. The businessman explained he was happy about how Porr has been doing in Poland, one of the firm’s key markets. Asked for his estimation of the economic environment in Slovakia and Hungary, Strauss said conditions were “difficult.”

Porr achieved earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit) of 49.1 million Euros in 2010, down from 64 million Euros in 2009. The company has around 11,500 staff.