PARIS, July 31 (Reuters) - French construction group Vinci kept its forecasts for higher annual earnings and revenues as it reported an increase in first-half profits, helped by a solid performance at its airports concessions business and its contracting activities.
Vinci, which is Europe’s biggest construction and concessions company, said first-half operating profit rose 9.1% to 2.3 billion euros ($2.6 billion), while revenues increased 10% to 21.7 billion.
Vinci has been expanding into faster-growing and more profitable concessions such as airports and motorways, as well as engineering projects for the energy industry, in order to counter weakness elsewhere in the construction sector.
$1 = 0.8964 euros Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta
