French company Bouygues has reported a net profit attributable to the group of €186m ($201.1m) in the first half (H1) of 2024, marking a 17.3% year-on-year (YoY) decline from €225m in H1 2023.  

Despite this, the French construction and engineering company saw a slight increase in sales, totalling €26.5bn, a 1% increase from €26.1bn in the same period last year. 

This sales increase is attributed to contributions from Equans and Bouygues Construction, with like-for-like (LfL) sales and at constant exchange rates showing a 2% YoY increase.  

Current operating profit from activities (COPA) also rose to €747m, up €20m from the previous year, mainly driven by Equans, where COPA increased by €57m YoY. 

The group's financial result improved to -€185m compared with -€201m in H1 2023.  

This improvement was largely due to a higher level of net cash and the return on net cash, as the company's debt is at fixed rates. 

LfL and at constant exchange rates sales also increased by 1%.  

Bouygues Construction's sales rose by 4% YoY to €4.9bn in H1 2024, with a notable performance from International Building. 

However, Bouygues Immobilier's sales declined by 17% to €614m from €743m in H1 2023, reflecting a challenging market environment.  

Residential property sales were down by 15% YoY, and Commercial segment property sales were almost non-existent. 

Colas reported a marginal 1% increase in sales to €6.8bn in H1 2024, with Rail up by 7% and Roads by 1%, showing slight growth in France, North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, but a decrease in the Asia-Pacific region. 

At the end of June 2024, the backlog in the company's Construction businesses reached €31.0bn, a 1% increase from €30.8bn in H1 2023.  

The backlog for France increased, with Bouygues Construction up by 13% YoY and Colas by 6%. 

COPA in the Construction businesses was €21m in H1 2024, down €14m YoY, and the COPA margin in the Construction businesses decreased by 0.1 points to -0.2%.  

Net debt of the group at the end of June 2024 was €8.7bn, compared to €10.6bn at the end of June 2023.