Hochtief raises profit target significantly thanks to AI demand

The company justified the increase with "positive Geschäftsentwicklung". The backdrop is primarily the US subsidiary Turner, "die eine sehr starke Nachfrageentwicklung im Rechenzentrumsmarkt verzeichnet". Hochtief CEO Juan Santamaría Cases also spoke of broadly based demand for infrastructure. "Wir verzeichnen eine anhaltende Nachfrage nach Infrastruktur - insbesondere nach Projekten in den Bereichen Rechenzentren, Energie, Verteidigung und kritische Mineralien", he said. The group has also raised its profit expectations for Turner.

The half-year results exceeded analyst expectations. In the second quarter, adjusted net profit rose by 40 percent to 263.2 million euros. Revenue climbed by 13.6 percent in the same period to just over 10.7 billion euros. Including special items, Hochtief achieved a net profit of 257.6 million euros in the three months to the end of June – around 49 percent more than a year earlier. Order intake grew by almost a quarter in the second quarter to 16.3 billion euros.

The order backlog reached a record of just under 84.8 billion euros at the end of June. According to the company, this high level of backlog gives the group strong visibility for the coming quarters. Santamaría Cases stressed that the focus is on "Aufträge in Märkten für hochmoderne Infrastruktur zu gewinnen, diese erfolgreich umzusetzen und die Erträge in Liquidität umzuwandeln".

According to the company, the driver of the high demand is the global expansion of data centers by technology groups. Faced with growing volumes of data and the trend toward artificial intelligence, these companies are investing massively in additional computing capacity. Hochtief has been active in the data center business in the USA, Europe, and Germany for years. Its US subsidiary Turner, for example, builds data centers for Meta in the United States. Recent new orders also include large data centers for Meta in Canada and the USA, as well as a project in Berlin for NTT Global.

In addition to the data center business, Hochtief also benefited from rising defense budgets worldwide. Governments are significantly increasing their military spending, which is driving demand for construction and infrastructure services in this segment. In this context, Santamaría Cases explicitly pointed to the defense sector as well as to the need for critical minerals, for example for the energy and semiconductor industries. Another pillar is the participation in the SMR program of Rolls-Royce, i.e., the construction of small modular nuclear reactors.

The analysis firm Bernstein Research rated the stock "Market-Perform" on June 16, 2026. After the half-year results, the shares initially recovered slightly from their early losses but were last trading around 1.2 percent in the red at 442 euros. The stock thus continued its downward trend that has persisted since May: from its all-time high of 554 euros in May, the stock has now lost around 18 percent.

On a twelve-month view, however, the price has more than doubled. Since the start of the year, the stock is up by almost a third. In recent months, investors had increasingly bet on AI-related infrastructure expansion and positioned Hochtief as a beneficiary of this trend. The weaker price performance of late shows that even positive business figures do not necessarily lead immediately to further share price gains.

According to its own statements, Hochtief is the largest construction company in Germany and is headquartered in Essen. The group is majority-owned by the Spanish ACS Group, one of Europe's largest infrastructure conglomerates. CEO Juan Santamaría Cases also heads the parent company ACS, underscoring the close strategic ties between the two companies.

The raised profit forecast is part of a series of positive corporate news from the construction sector, reflecting the structural investment need in data centers, energy, and defense infrastructure. Industry observers see Hochtief as well positioned beyond its German competitors thanks to its strong presence in the USA. At the same time, economic risks remain – such as interest rate trends, energy and material costs – which could weigh on the project business.

For full-year 2026, Hochtief now expects operating earnings power to continue increasing. With a record order backlog of just under 84.8 billion euros, the group has a solid foundation to achieve the new profit expectation. If demand for AI and defense infrastructure persists, the company could raise its forecast again in the further course of the year.

Since this is a business report in which the CEO is quoted, the source is the official company announcement.