Contractor Skanska confirmed in its quarterly results that it had won the 拢620m St Bartholomew's hospital PFI contract, as revealed in 好色先生TV last week.
The Skanska Innisfree consortium won a two-horse race against a team led by Bouygues to win the UK's biggest ever PFI hospital contract.

Stuart Graham, Skanska's joint president and chief executive, said: "We have been notified that if certain conditions can be agreed to by us within a fixed time period, the Skanska Innisfree consortium will be awarded the status of preferred bidder."

In its results for the third quarter of 2003, Skanska made a net profit of 拢39.2m, up from 拢24.5m. This represents a turnaround for Skanska from a poor 2002, when it made a net loss of 拢63.2m. In the first nine months this year it has already made a net profit of 拢151.2m.

The improvement came despite a 4% decline in its net sales between July and September on the third quarter last year. Adjusted for currency rate effects, however, net sales rose 5%.

Graham said that the company's construction investments were shrinking in its main markets, with the exception of the UK and the Czech Republic. He added that industrial and commercial construction work in the USA were at particularly low levels.