According to Skanska, the US construction market, its most successful business, is “fragmented”.
However, in the fourth quarter of the firm and 2025 results reportpublished on February 6, the Stockholm-based contractor said it remains bullish on specific sectors, namely data centers and civil construction.
In addition to high demand for data center projectsdriven largely by the artificial intelligence boom, Skanska also sees “continued investments from our repeat customers,” President and CEO Anders Danielsson told Construction Dive.
“We saw here in the fourth quarter that we took close to 10 billion Swedish kroner [krona] for data capture for data centers. So we’re well-positioned to take advantage of that.”
Skanska’s earnings report shows it won 9.5 billion kroner ($1.05 billion) in new global data center projects in the fourth quarter.
Danielsson added that he does not believes there is an AI bubble this would affect the development of the data center.
“We don’t see any sign of that the market slowing down,” he told Construction Dive.
Fragmentation comes into play in other affected sectors economic uncertaintywhich leads project owners to hesitate when starting. For Skanska, Danielsson said, “social infrastructure” workplaces such as schools, hospitals and airports feel those impacts the most.
Managing a diverse portfolio has been key to Skanska’s construction strategy.
“I think the organization has been consistent with our strategy of being selective in the market and betting on projects where we see that we have a competitive advantage, a good track record, a good relationship with the client and also the right organization,” said Danielsson.
Skanska’s construction operating margins came in at 4.1% for the year, beating the company’s target and surpassing 3.5% in 2024.
“To be at this level requires us to remain consistent with our strategy,” Danielsson said. “But I also see some opportunity to grow the business.”
Promotion of commercial properties
As construction bolsters Skanska’s performance, the commercial property development market weighs on it.
In the third quarter of 2025, for example, Skanska had charges of 700 million kroner adjust the value of commercial assetsspecifically in the US
But during a Feb. 6 earnings call, Danielsson described the fourth quarter as a “very successful divestment quarter” for commercial property development.
Skanska unloaded eight commercial properties in the fourth quarter, executive vice president and chief financial officer Pontus Winqvist said on the call.
“If you’re looking at the business development portfolio, I would say a more representative earnings content is looking at our unrealized values that we have to take what we actually delivered this quarter,” Winqvist said.
The call was Winqvist’s first as CFO, after the departure of Jonas Rickberg in november Rickberg had taken over in January 2025.
By the numbers
Skanska reported an operating profit of 2.98 billion kroner in the fourth quarter, 8.4% more than the same period last year. In the fiscal year 2025, Skanska recorded an operating profit of 7.24 billion kroner, 2.2% more than in 2024.
Construction continued to lead the way. In the fourth quarter, 2.5 billion kroner, or about 80% of total operating profit, came from construction work.
The fourth quarter portfolio remained historically highDanielsson said on the call, with 257.9 billion kroner in work earned to close the year. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, the backlog was reduced from 285 billion. In the US, Skanska reported 23 months of work in progress.
