Portugal's Mota-Engil raises targets after first-half profit more than doubles

Portugal's largest builder Mota-Engil EGL on Thursday said its first-half net profit more than doubled on strong turnover, mainly in Latin America, prompting the company to raise its targets.

The construction company, which operates in 20 countries across Africa, Europe, and Latin America, booked consolidated net profit of 30 million euros ($32.73 million) between January and June, up from 12 million euros a year ago.

Overall sales rose 89% to 2.56 billion euros, "fueled by a strong contribution from the Engineering & Construction business in Latin America and Africa with the execution of several projects at full speed," it said.

Mota-Engil expects turnover to rise to 5 billion euros this year, or about 30% more than in 2022, up from a 20% increase expected in March.

The company also raised its net profit target for 2026, saying it now expects to hit 180 million euros, up from a previous forecast of net profit of 105 million euros. It sees 2026 revenue of 6 billion euros.

Turnover in Latin America more than tripled to 1.3 billion euros in the first half of the year, becoming the region which most contributes to the turnover, followed by Africa, where sales rose 50% to 676 million euros.

The company's backlog was 12.6 billion euros, the same as in December 2022.

The builder is 40% owned by the Mota family and 32.41% owned by the China Communications Construction Company 601800.

($1 = 0.9166 euros)