01.11.2012

Harsco Infrastructure losses mount

International scaffold, formwork and access rental company Harsco Infrastructure has reported third quarter results with further falls in revenue and mounting losses.

In the nine months to the end of September revenues were $701.8 million down almost 17 percent on the same period last year. Meanwhile operating losses leapt from a loss of $25.9 million last year to $84.9 million this year – all but $10 million or so of this was due to on-going restructuring and closure costs.

Looking at the third quarter revenues were down almost 19 percent to $229.3 million, while operating losses almost doubled to $6.1 million, compared to €3.3 million in 2011 although the underlying trend was slightly better with an operational loss of $2.5 compared to $3.3 million last year.

The company says that foreign currency moves negatively impacted sales by $14 million in the quarter and that the lower revenues reflect softness in the global commercial construction markets and lower industrial maintenance services activity in North America and Europe.

The Harsco group as a whole saw revenues fall nine percent over the nine months to $2.28 billion, while pre-tax profits dropped from $109.5 million this time last year to $39.3 million this year.