Budimex builds up contract portfolio, expects bumper year in 2005

However, "next year we expect a substantial improvement. The growth will amount to at least 10%," declared the company's president Marek Michałowski. This is due to the c ompany's portfolio of contracted orders. Their value is to reach zł.2.8-2.9 billion at the end of this year, as compared to zł.1.95 billion a year ago. Budimex wants to concentrate its activities on the developer sector, railway infrastructure construction and public procurement orders. "Developer ac tivity should amount to 8-10% of 2005 revenues, while the public procurement may reach around 70%," estimated Stefan Bekir Assanowicz, the president of Budimex Dromex, the largest company in the holding. Budimex is entering new markets since it is trying to increase its margins, which according to the company's management amount to 3-5%, while exchange rates can fall by as much as 15% during the completion of orders. This is why Budimex is still recording an operational loss of zł.12 million. (Parkiet, p.5; Puls Biznesu, p.8) E.B