ConDig (08-Nov-18).  Swedish developer and contractor Skanska reported a drop in profit and orders in the third quarter, while revenue edged up on the year-ago period.

Order intake at the group’s construction division, which books the bulk of group sales, was 30.6 billion Swedish crowns ($3.40 billion) compared with 34.1 billion in the year-ago period.

Skanska also reported that operating income tumbled 49% to SEK 2.4 billion compared with SEK 4.7 billion a year earlier.

It comes despite revenue rising 3% to SEK 120.8 billion from SEK 117.2 billion in the third quarter last year.

Last month, the company revealed a new writedown in its troubled US operations that it warned would impact third-quarter earnings, which pushed its shares down.

Despite the drop in profit and orders, Skanska’s chief executive Anders Danielsson told CNBC on Thursday that outlook for the US construction industry was not a concern.

“I would say the opportunities for infrastructure investment are very large in the US. The underlying need for investing in infrastructure is huge and most of those decisions are taken at the more local level so we see a good pipeline going forward,” he said.

Last month, Skanska landed a $76 million contract to revamp the Manhattan Bridge in New York City.

It followed a $131 million deal to manage the construction of a new campus at Collin College in Wylie, Texas, and a $111 million contract to upgrade a 200,000-square-foot academic building in Connecticut. It also won a $52 million deal to construct a sciences building at the WSU Pullman campus in Pullman, Washington.