Portugal's Mota-Engil profit rises 20% to record driven by African projects

Mota-Engil Reports 20% Profit Surge Fueled by African Ventures

Mota-Engil's Financial Performance Overview

LISBON (Reuters) -Portugal's largest construction company Mota-Engil said on Wednesday strong sales in Africa helped drive a 20% rise in net profit in the first half to an all-time high.

Sales Growth in Africa

The builder, which operates in more than 20 countries in Africa, Europe and Latin America, posted a net profit of 59 million euros ($69.07 million) in the period, up from 49 million euros last year.

Challenges in Latin America and Europe

Overall sales rose 0.5% to 2.75 billion euros, with Africa increasing 59% to 1.05 billion euros and "standing out as the region with the strongest growth and profitability" due to projects in Nigeria and Angola, Mota-Engil said in a statement.

Order Backlog and Future Projects

Sales in Latin America fell 27% to 1.09 billion euros reflecting a "transition period" after two consecutive years of significant growth. In Europe, sales dropped 18% to 242 million euros following the sale of the company's Polish operations in September.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 13% to 448 million euros and its EBITDA margin - a measure of profitability - rose to 16% from 15% during the same period a year ago.

Mota-Engil, which is 40%-owned by the Mota family and 32.41% by China Communications Construction Company, said its order backlog reached 14.7 billion euros in June, 1 billion euros more than a year ago. It said that secured "a strong revenue outlook for 2026 and beyond".

While the order backlog fell short of the record 15.6 billion euros reached in December, it did not yet include projects awarded in Portugal, Mexico and Rwanda worth 1.4 billion euros since June 30.

($1 = 0.8542 euros)

(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; Editing by Inti Landauro and Helen Popper)