Finance & Funding

Munich-based Wacker Neuson is reporting a substantial increase in revenue and profitability for the first six months of 2018. According to the firm’s latest results, revenue is at a record high and there has been a marked improvement in profit before interest and tax. However bottlenecks among suppliers as well as currency developments have had a dampening effect on the results. Revenue for the first half of 2018 rose 8% to a new record high of €825 million, compared with €764 million for the same period i

Newly available data reveals that construction equipment sales are showing further growth in in the second quarter of 2018. The report reveals that retail sales of construction and earthmoving equipment in the UK market grew by 3.8% in the second quarter of 2018, compared with the same period in 2017. This is according to the UK equipment statistics exchange provided by data processing specialist Systematics International and run in partnership with the Construction Equipment Association (CEA). Th

Austrian construction firm Strabag and Bulgarian firm GBS-Infrastructure Construction have won the contract to build the 32.4 km Sofia-Kalotina motorway. Cost of the 32.4kmn four-lane project is estimated at €120 million with completion set for 2020. The Kalotina motorway will run from the capital Sofia’s ring road to the border town of Kalotina where it will connect with Serbia’s A4 motorway. It is also part of 6,100km 10-country European route E80 running from the Portuguese capital Lisbon to the

Despite global supply chain challenges, sales for Terex Cranes grew 10% to $335 million in the second quarter this year. Terex Corporation also reported an overall strong second quarter 2018 sales of US$1.4 billion, up 19% versus Q2 2017, with increased sales and backlog in all three business segments. The company said that results were driven by its ongoing corporate Execute to Win business strategy and during a period of broad-based growth. The company said that the global cranes market is generally

Romania’s transport ministry has cut red tape to speed up 13 road projects this year. Work was stepped up on around 169km of motorway, including contracts on several projects to complete the A1 motorway. The section between Lugoj and Deva is set for the end of the year. The A1 motorway when finished, will be around 580km and connect the capital Bucharest with the Banat and Crișana regions in the western part of the country. Cities along the route include Pitești, Sibiu, Deva, Timișoara and Arad before

A South Korean contractor, GS Construction, looks set to build the new Selander Bridge in Tanzania’s capital, Dar es Salaam. The deal was signed between GS Construction and the Tanzania National Roads Agency (Tanroad). The new bridge comes with a pricetag of some US$126.26 million and will take until 2021 to complete. The project includes the 1.4km bridge plus upgrades to up to 7km of connecting roads. Nearly 83% of the funding required for the project will be supplied by South Korean sources, with the

Ghana is looking to secure a major financing package from China for road infrastructure improvements. The intended funding deal will be in the form of a loan, which will be used to build new road links and upgrade existing routes. One of the key projects being prioritised is an upgrade to the route connecting Wa with Bulenga in the north of the country and close to the border with Burkina Faso.

India continues to develop its road network, with the country’s ambitious plans moving ahead. Contracts for 6,320km of road projects have so far been awarded by the current Indian Government. This is for the first phase of the programme and the work is worth a massive US$20.95 billion in all. However the entire programme of road development will cover some 84,000km of roads and will be worth an eye-popping $109.1 billion.