French group Bouygue: Third quarter net profit rises 26%

French construction, television and telecoms group Bouygues said Wednesday its third quarter net profit rose by 26 percent to 360 million euros ($485 million). Sales were steady in the July through September period at 9.04 billion euros, and the company confirmed its forecast of annual sales between 33.2 and 33.4 billion euros. The company said the construction business continued to turn in a good commercial performance in the third quarter as it had in the second, while TF1 television and its telecom unit continued to suffer from competition. Bouygues said its efforts at adapting to the market conditions were working, and the contribution of the telecoms unit to group profit rose by 26 percent over the nine months of 2013 to 86 million euros. However TF1's nine-month profit slid 29 percent to 27 million euros. Despite the difficult economic environment Bouygues said construction orders rose, and that the segment brought 17 percent more profit to the group in the nine months at 204 million euros. Overall, the company's nine-month net profit was down three percent to 611 million euros and sales down 24.25 billion euros, which the company blamed on its poor performance in the first half of the year, when net profit plunged by nearly a third.