Spain's FCC reports losses for fourth quarter in a row

 

Spanish building and services company FCC booked losses for the 4th quarter in a row on Friday, hurt by falling revenue in a struggling economy, as well as writedowns on renewable energy assets and its Austrian building unit.

The heavily-indebted company reported a €674.9 Mln loss for the first 9 months of the year, with revenues down 10% to €5 Bln as spending on public works in Spain shrank during an economic downturn.

FCC is working against the clock to refinance around €5 billion euros of debt with 37 creditor banks before the end of the year. The builder had net debt of €6.6 Bln at end-September, down €510 Mln since the end of last year.

The company has cut staff, put assets like real estate division Realia on the block and made heavy writedowns on its renewable energy business and Austrian construction company Alpine in an attempt to whittle down its massive debt pile.

The stock received a big boost from the announcement last month that software billionaire Bill Gates had bought a 6% stake in the company, making the Microsoft founder the 2nd biggest shareholder after board member Esther Koplowitz, who inherited FCC from her father.

Shares, that have lost around 80% of their value since their 2007 peak at the height of the Spanish housing and construction boom, fell 1.3% in morning trade.