€235 million loss for construction company BAM

The first half of 2020 was rough on construction company BAM, with the company suffering a total loss of 234.5 million euros, according to the interim figures BAM released on Thursday.

A combination of the coronavirus, poorly performing businesses, and a settlement claim meant that the company suffered an adjusted pretax loss of 133.6 million euros. BAM also lost a combined 101.7 million euros on income tax, restructuring, and impairments - the permanent reduction in the value of assets. The company's revenue shrank to 3.1 billion euros, 10 percent less than in the same period last year.

BAM attributed a large part of its difficulties over the past months to the coronavirus crisis, which brought productivity down to around 65 percent in April and May. The company has recovered productivity since and is now back to 90 percent.

But other factors also played a role. BAM International has been underperforming for years, and also contributed 56 million euros to the losses in the first half of this year. BAM has taken steps to start winding down this part of the company, with the aim of closing it next year.

The company also reached a settlement for its share in the 2009 Cologne metro debacle, in which two people were killed when the city archives and neighboring houses collapsed. Insurers covered most of the 200 million euros BAM was responsible for in the settlement, but the company had to pay 36 million euros from its own accounts.

The company also wrote off 116 million euros in deferred tax payments and goodwill - the company's intangible reputation and thus market value.

"This has been a challenging half year, particularly because of the impact of Covid-19 in combination with underperformance in several businesses," CFO and interim CEO Frans den Houter said, adding that the company is of course disappointed in the loss. The company has taken steps to reduce costs and improve its risk profile, but Covid-19 will definitely still have an impact on the results for the rest of 2020.