Boskalis Orderbook Down, Outlook Unchanged

Dutch dredging and marine services company Boskalis said on Tuesday revenue was virtually unchanged in the first quarter and that its orderbook had slipped slightly from the end of 2014.

The company said in a trading update it could not provide any clear guidance for 2015, but that the contribution from "possible exceptional items will be substantially lower in 2015 than the 200 million euros" in 2014.

Boskalis is one of the world's largest dredging and port services companies, with 2014 net profit of 490 million euros ($550.50 million) on sales of 3.2 billion euros.

In Tuesday's statement, it repeated its earlier forecast of a mixed outlook for the offshore energy sector, and for the dredging and towing markets to be stable in 2015. It said it planned capital expenditure of 250-275 million euros this year.

The orderbook was down slightly in the first quarter from 3.3 billion euros at the end of 2014, it said, without providing additional figures.

Boskalis has built up a 25 percent stake in rival Fugro, but denies an interest in acquiring the company. Any such announcement could trigger anti-takeover defences.

Boskalis shares, which had been down around one percent in the morning, swung to a gain of 0.5 percent to 47.40 euros after the trading update.

Earlier this year, the company suspended its share buy-back programme, with Chief Executive Peter Berdowski saying he wanted to have more money available to make use of distressed market circumstances to make acquisitions at discount prices.

Reporting by Thomas Escritt