Suez Environment posts sharply lower Q2 profit

The French water and waste management group Suez Environment said on Wednesday net profit plummeted in the second quarter by 82 percent from a year ago to 40 million euros hit by a poor economic environment. Suez said in a statement sales in the April-June period dipped by 0.7 percent to 7.32 billion euros ($9.0 billion) with the company facing a "more difficult macroeconomic context in Europe." The group nonetheless expressed confidence that it would still achieve its 2012 targets, which the company recently revised lower due to the poor global economy and a 85 billion euro charge on a delayed desalination plant project in Melbourne, Australia. Despite the crisis in the Europe, "the fundamentals across all sectors are good" and in the long term "our earnings outlook remains solid," chief executive Jean Louis Chaussade said in a conference call.