France's Eiffage posts near 14% jump in first-half profits

Eiffage, a major French civil engineering group, on Wednesday posted a near 14-percent rise in first-half net profits and reiterated its sales target for the year thanks to improved operating performance. In the six-month period that ended on June 30, the company recorded a net profit of 58 million euros ($78 million). While sales fell by 1.3 percent to 6.5 billion euros, operating profit jumped 3.8 percent to 518 million euros during the period and the operating margin improved to 7.9 percent from a previous 7.5 percent. "Given the recovery in traffic at the motorway concessions, the satisfactory progress of major projects and efforts to improve worksite productivity, the group's results can be expected to improve in 2013," Eiffage said in a statement. It confirmed its target of reaching sales of 14.2 billion euros this year. At the end of June, Eiffage's order book totalled 12.5 billion euros, representing 13 months of activity.