Builder Skanska first-quarter profit jumps, lowers market outlook due to pandemic
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden's Skanska reported on Tuesday a bigger-than-expected jump in first-quarter operating earnings but lowered its market outlook for the coming year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Operating profit at the Nordic region's largest builder, and one of the biggest in the United States, was 2.90 billion Swedish crowns ($290 million) against a year-ago 488 million and beat a mean forecast of 1.46 billion in a Refinitiv poll of five analysts.
It said the shutdown of some construction projects in the United States and Britain due to government decisions, and the fact some others had slowed down, would have a negative effect on volumes and earnings for some time.
(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom; editing by Niklas Pollard)