By Gianluca Lo Nostro
(Reuters) -French conglomerate Bouygues reported a stronger than expected operating profit for the first nine months of the year on Wednesday, helped by resilient construction activities even as political turmoil in France weighed on its media arm.
Current operating profit from activities was 1.81 billion euros ($2.11 billion) between January and September, slightly above the 1.77 billion euros expected by analysts polled by the company. Group sales reached 41.86 billion euros, broadly in line with the consensus.
Family-owned Bouygues, whose activities span from construction and energy services to media and telecommunications, is leading a joint effort to consolidate France’s telecoms market by carving up a large portion of Altice France, which owns the country’s second-largest operator SFR.
The 17-billion-euro offer, launched together with Orange and Iliad, was rejected by Altice France in October. Still, the trio has stood by the bid and stated its intention to pursue talks with Altice shareholders.
“There was no particular dialogue before, and there is no particular dialogue after,” Deputy CEO Pascal Grangé said in a call with reporters. “The offer we made was clearly not acceptable to Altice. That is where we stand today.”
STRENGTH IN CONSTRUCTION OUTWEIGHS MEDIA WEAKNESS
The construction business benefitted from a strong order book and offset weaker advertising that weighed on the media unit. The company has secured a major civil works role at Britain’s Sizewell C nuclear project, with orders worth about 3 billion euros to be booked from late 2025.
Bouygues-owned TF1, France’s biggest private TV broadcaster, last month warned of lower margins this year, after the advertising market was hit by the political uncertainty.
The Paris-based group confirmed its annual forecasts for slight growth in operating profit and revenue at constant exchange rates, although its reported sales will be close to 2024 levels due to swings in currency exchange rates.
Shares in Bouygues were leading gains on France’s CAC 40 index with a nearly 3% rise.
($1 = 0.8575 euros)
(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro in Gdansk; Editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
