Bouygues Raises Forecast After Beating Profit Expectations

05/15/2012| 12:25pm US/Eastern

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French construction-to-telecom conglomerate Bouygues SA (>> BOUYGUES) Tuesday raised its sales target for 2012 after reporting higher-than-expected sales and net profit in the first quarter.

Net profit for the three-month period rose 3% from a year earlier to EUR35 million, on 4% sales growth to EUR6.99 billion. The average estimate for 15 analysts polled by the company was a EUR27 million net profit and EUR6.66 billion in sales.

Bouygues revised its sales target for the full year to EUR32.7 billion, up from EUR32.4 billion announced at the end of the previous quarter.

In the first quarter of this year, the company's construction business increased revenue 10% to EUR2.38 billion, on a 21% increase abroad, while the French market only grew 2%.

Revenue from Bouygues Telecom, which provided about 18% of the company's revenue last year, fell 3% after it was hit by the launch of Iliad SA's (>> ILIAD) ultra low-cost mobile telephone service Free Mobile in January, which grabbed a significant market share from the three incumbent operators. Bouygues said it lost 210,000 subscribers over the quarter.

"Since mid-March portability requests have gradually been returning to their previous level," the company said in a statement.

Bouygues shares closed Tuesday down 1.7% at EUR20, while the CAC ended down 0.6%.

-By Inti Landauro, Dow Jones Newswires; +33 1 4017 1740; inti.landauro@dowjones.com

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