2020 net profit for Merko Ehitus grows to EUR 23 million
Merko Ehitus posted revenue of approximately EUR 106 million for Q4 2020, while total revenue for the whole year was EUR 316 million. The group’s Q4 2020 net profit was EUR 10 million and its annual net profit grew over 40%, amounting to EUR 23 million. In coordination with the supervisory board, the group’s management board proposes to pay shareholders 1 euro per share in dividends.
“We can be satisfied with the results of 2020. I would like to thank all of the group’s employees for their good work, especially considering the restrictions due to the pandemic. We earned over half of the profit outside Estonia and primarily from apartment development. The sale of many apartment developments that had previously been launched was realized in 2020, and as a result we sold a total of 900 new homes. “A large share of the apartments currently in development will be ready for sales in 2022. Due to the influences of the pandemic, we are not expecting growth on the Baltic construction market in the year ahead,” said the chairman of the AS Merko Ehitus management board Andres Trink.
A major part of the group’s profit came from the area of real estate development, where 2020 revenue grew by 84% year-over-year and the number of apartments almost doubled (895 apartments in 2020 and 482 in 2019). The largest apartment development projects were Uus-Veerenni, Lahekalda and Pikaliiva in Tallinn, Gaiļezers and Viesturdārzs in Riga and Vilneles Slenis and Rinktinės Urban in Vilnius.
During 2020, the group’s companies entered into new contracts worth EUR 277 million – EUR 29,1 million of which was in Q4. The largest contracts were the construction of a commercial building in Tiskre, Estonia, and the establishment of a NATO base in Ādaži, Latvia. The group’s secured order book balance as of the end of the year was EUR 225 million. The largest projects in progress in Q4 were the third development stage of the Mustamäe medical campus of the North Estonia Medical Centre, the Tallinn School of Music and Ballet, Tallinn Arte Gymnasium, a data centre in Harju County, the renovations of the Nordic Hotel Forum and the Tallink City Hotel, and the design and construction of infrastructure of the Republic of Estonia’s southeast land border. In Latvia, construction of the Orkla waffle and biscuit factory in Ādaži, the construction of a kindergarten in Salaspils, and the reconstruction of the Riga Technical University’s Civil Engineering Faculty building were in progress. In Lithuania, the largest works in progress were the Neringa Hotel in Vilnius, wind park infrastructure facilities in the Telšiai district and, in the Kaunas district, a police headquarters building and NATO barracks.
Interim report is published on Merko’s web page: group.merko.ee.