Lusoponte and Lagoas Park share for sale

Teixeira Duarte, the construction group which must raise €500 million to repay loans, is to sell its share in bridge concession Lusoponte and business park Lagoas Park this year.

It means the construction firm will sell Lagoas Park, the 7.5% share it owns in Lusoponte and the 9% it has in the toll motorway company Auto-Estradas do Baixo Tejo. The announcement was made in its financial report for 2017, published at the end of last week.

The construction giant reported losses of €4.7 million for 2017, the first losses since the economic crash hit the construction industry in Portugal 2011. The company also took a hit in 2008.

The losses in 2017 compared to profits of €20 million in 2016. In 2011 the company suffered losses of €200 million owing bank BCP €136 million.

The reasons for the current losses forcing the sale of its interests in Lusoponte, Lagoas Park and Auto-Estradas do Baixo Tejo was a fall in income in 2017 by 10.6% to €1.09Bn and fall in EBITDA in 2017 by 31.8% to €181 million compared to €265 million in 2016. The fall in income was down to falling overseas business contracts (-13%) while the national market shrank 0.4%. Overall the construction sector in Portugal rose 41.8% to €125 million.