Mota-Engil, Portugal’s largest construction group, and a major player in Africa, recorded a net loss of €20m in 2020 after it recorded a €39m provision to cover loss of business caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The result follows a €27m profit for 2019.
The company said the loss was directly related to the risk of mitigating the negative effects caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.Â
Revenue fell 17% to €2.4bn, and pre-tax profit fell 9% to €380m. Turnover in Africa fell 24% to €761m, due to the effect of the pandemic on its main markets in Angola and Mozambique.
Revenue from Latin America fell even further, sliding 37% to €595m. Here, the effect of the coronavirus on Peru, Mexico and Brazil caused serious disruption. Turnover in Europe, by contrast, rose 8% thanks to work won in Poland.
On a more positive note, the company said its order book had reached an all-time high of €6.1bn, with notable wins in Nigeria and Mexico (see further reading).
The company is currently in the final stages of selling a 30% stake to China Communications Construction.
Image: One of Mota-Engil’s African successes in 2020 was a $570m contract to modernise Ghana’s Accra-to-Tema motorway (Enock4seth/CC BY-SA 3.0)Â
Further reading:
