France's Bouygues beats forecasts driven by energy arm Equans

By Michal Aleksandrowicz

(Reuters) - French construction-to-telecoms conglomerate Bouygues beat nine-month core profit and sales expectations on Tuesday, driven mainly by its energy arm Equans.

The results sent shares in Bouygues up 5.8% by 0848 GMT.

The diversified group reported a current operating profit from activities of 1.62 billion euros ($1.72 billion) for January to September, compared with 1.57 billion expected by analysts polled by the company.

Equans, created after Bouygues bought Engie's services unit in October 2022 and combined it with its own energies and services business, made up nearly 34% of the group's sales in the nine-month period.

Last year's acquisition marked a strategic shift for family-owned Bouygues, already present in civil engineering, construction, media and telecoms, as it seeks growth in the energy transition and services market.

Equans' strong contribution offset a sales drop in real estate unit Immobilier, as the market environment in the property sector remained challenging and with limited visibility on recovery, Bouygues said.

It said Immobilier was postponing launches of certain projects after reservations for residential property fell 23% from a year earlier and commercial property sales came to a standstill as investors delayed their decisions.

Immobilier saw its sales drop by nearly 20% in the first nine months of 2023. This was mitigated by a 6% increase in Equans, along with 6% growth in the construction unit and a 2% rise in road building arm Colas, both helped by major contracts.

The group reported nine-month sales of 40.89 billion euros, ahead of analysts' forecast of 40.83 billion euros.

It also confirmed its annual outlook both at group level and for its business units.

Bouygues shares have risen 20% this year including Tuesday's gain.

($1 = 0.9439 euros)

(Reporting by Michal Aleksandrowicz in Gdansk; editing by Milla Nissi and Susan Fenton)