Mota-Engil first-half profit rises 24% to €74 million
Portugal’s Mota-Engil reported higher first-half profit and a record order book, pointing to stronger activity ahead despite a rise in net debt.
Portuguese infrastructure group Mota-Engil reported a 24% rise in first-half net profit to €74 million, as revenue and operating margins improved and its order book reached a record level. The results matter for investors and business partners because they point to stronger visibility for future activity, even as debt increased.
Revenue rose 6% to €2.898 billion, with growth across all business segments and a larger contribution from Africa and Latin America, according to a results statement filed with CMVM, Portugal’s securities market regulator. EBITDA increased 10% to €487 million, while the EBITDA margin improved to 17% from 16%. EBIT rose 5% to €313 million.
Mota-Engil said the margin improvement reflected the selection of more profitable projects and a growing contribution from higher-margin contracts. Its net financial result worsened to a negative €135 million from a negative €121 million a year earlier, in a period when the group’s average interest rate, including leasing and factoring operations, stood at 7.1%.
The group’s order book rose 10% from December to a record €17.714 billion at the end of June, equivalent to 3.2 times revenue over the last 12 months. Mota-Engil highlighted engineering and construction contracts in Portugal, Mexico, Nigeria and Peru, as well as new projects in natural resources and circular economy activities.
Net debt, excluding leasing and factoring, increased to €1.99 billion at the end of June from €1.941 billion at the end of 2025. The company said the ratio of net debt to last-12-month EBITDA was 1.94 times, remaining below the two-times ceiling set in its FOCUS 2030 plan. Mota-Engil also said it generated €159 million in free cash flow in the half, while paying €69 million in dividends and investing €185 million.
Originally published at Eco.pt