Q1 2007 Bilfinger Berger AG Earnings Conference Call - Final.

Original Source: FD (FAIR DISCLOSURE) WIRE

OPERATOR: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Bilfinger Berger Q1 report conference call. At this time all participants are in a listen-only mode until we conduct the question and answer session, and the instructions will be given at that time. (OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS). Just to remind you, this conference call is being recorded.

I would now like to hand over the chairperson, Andreas Muller. Please begin your meeting and I will be standing by.

ANDREAS MULLER, HEAD OF CORPORATE ACCOUNTING M&A IR, BILFINGER BERGER AG: Yes, good morning everybody, and welcome to our Q1 Q&A session. As announced, there will be no formal presentation from our side today. At our end, Bettina Schneider is joining me, whom you all know very well.

But before we start our Q&A session, I just want to point out one translation error in the English report on page 1. There is a number for the ROCE Q1 2006 which, of course, is not Q1 2006, but for the full year, the 16.3%; just to avoid any misunderstanding.

And unfortunately, in the German version, those of you who have read the German version, there is a typo in the balance sheet. There is the financial assets. There is a mistake in the (spoken in German) which has to be (spoken in German); the 1,068 million. And also, the line item investment properties is not investment properties, because they have all been sold, but is the (spoken in German); just to avoid any mistakes. If you have some more questions on that, we can easily handle it maybe after the call.

So now I think we are ready to take your questions.

OPERATOR: (OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS). The first question comes from the line of Luis Prieto. Please announce your company name and location, and go ahead.

LUIS PRIETO, ANALYST, MERRILL LYNCH: Good morning. Luis Prieto calling from Merrill Lynch. I have a couple of brief questions. Number one I'd like to know the degree of sustainability of organic growth on the services front. You've quoted 19% organic. I just wanted to know whether that could be -- to what extent that could be extrapolated for the full year.

And also, if you could provide us a little bit of color on the margin in German building, not only this quarter, but basically for the full year. You are saying you expect a positive contribution. That obviously contrasts with [Hocties'] recent profit warning, if you want to call it. So I just wanted to know a little bit more on that. Thanks.

ANDREAS MULLER: Okay, so maybe the first question regarding services. Obviously services has seen a very strong first quarter of this year, which is primarily also based on strong economics overall, and the likely demand for our -- especially for our industrial services.

Also, looking back, the first quarter of 2006 was not a very strong quarter for services, so I think we have really two effects. So the 19% organic growth in Q1 certainly is something which cannot be extrapolated for the full year. As we discussed before, typically we would expect a 5% organic growth for services for the full year. That might be stronger in some of the fields, it might be lower in some others, but overall it's more in that range than at the 19% which you have seen in Q1.

For our building segments, …