Austrian construction giant Strabag AG reported Friday a steady performance in 2009 despite the building industry crisis, with sales and profits showing 3 per cent growth, according to dpa. The company said net earnings rose to 161.5 million euros (215 million dollars). Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT totalled 282.9 million euros, up 5 per cent on 2008. Revenues in reached 12.55 billion euros, up 3 per cent, while the number of employees also increased by the same amount last year. Strabag said that it was now expecting to gain more state contracts in transportation and engineering projects to help compensate for the decline in demand from the private sector. The company said its steady performance last year despite the difficult industry situation was the result of the broad spread of its activities in various markets combined with its own high net worth of 32 per cent which enabled Strabag to act quickly. "Flexibility with regard to products and above all markets remains the order of the day," company board chairman Hans Peter Haselsteiner said. In the future, Strabag hopes to tap into such niche markets as railway construction, environmental technology and waterways construction, he said. With 75,548 employees last year, Strabag is one of Europe's largest building outfits.
