A mid-sized Dutch housing development company. Low debt and large, cheap land bank - both attractive supports to the business. The Dutch housing market has yet to show signs of the downturn so visible in the UK, Ireland and Spain, but affordability there is not particularly good, mortgage credit is starting to dry up and the expectation is for a squeeze on both margins and volume in the second half of this year. Most important is the distinct lack of visibility over earnings and the level of information provided by management, hence the sale.
Ballast Nedam is a Dutch construction company. Ballast has been restructuring, reducing its workforce by 50% and divesting of non-core, international operations, where the company lacked the scale to generate sufficient returns. The strategy to refocus on the core Netherlands market, and offer consulting services as well as pure construction, comes at a time when government initiatives (PFI in the public sector and cutting red tape in the housing sector) should help sustain the new momentum in the hitherto moribund Dutch market. Thus incremental revenue increases allied to a restructured cost base should boost returns.
| Sedol |
Type |
Price |
Date |
| 4137443 |
Sell |
EUR 23.088 |
21/05/2008 |
| 4137443 |
Buy |
EUR 31.884 |
25/10/2006 |
| 4137443 |
Buy |
EUR 34.50 |
17/03/2006 |
|
