(Adds sales in paragraph 3, real estate orders in paragraph 6,
CFO comments in paragraphs 4 and 7, share move in paragraph 9)
By Diana Mandia and Michal Aleksandrowicz
May 16 (Reuters) - French construction-to-telecoms
conglomerate Bouygues on Tuesday said its operating
result swung to a surprise profit in the first quarter,
supported by last year's Equans acquisition and
inflation-related price increases.
The October acquisition of Engie's former
services unit marked a strategic shift for family-owned
Bouygues, which was already present in the civil engineering,
construction, media and telecoms sectors and wants to grow in
energy transition and services.
Price increases helped the group report a 46% year-on-year
jump in quarterly sales to 12 billion euros ($13.2 billion),
above analysts' forecast of 11.74 billion euros in a
company-compiled poll.
"Our policy is one of risk limitation," Chief Financial
Officer Pascal Grangé told reporters. "It is either to transfer
the risk to our customers with protective contracts, or to
transfer it in part to our suppliers or to our supply chain in
general."
Bouygues reported a current operating profit from activities
of 9 million euros for the first quarter, compared with a loss
of 66 million euros a year earlier. Analysts had expected a loss
of 2 million euros.
However, the company said the order backlog of its real
estate business Bouygues Immobilier was 20% lower than in the
first quarter of 2022, as customers stayed in a wait-and-see
mode amid inflation and rising interest rates, especially in
France.
Meanwhile, the market in Poland is "quite excellent" due
to growing housing needs driven by migration flows from war-torn
Ukraine, Grangé said.
Bouygues, which is present in more than 80 countries and has
around 200,000 employees, confirmed 2023 outlook both on group
level and for its business units.
Shares had fallen 2.5% at 0740 GMT.
($1 = 0.9084 euros)
(Reporting by Diana Mandiá and Michal Aleksandrowicz in Gdansk;
Editing by Milla Nissi and Ed Osmond)
michal.aleksandrowicz@thomsonreuters.com))
