Boskalis: positive prospects for 2008

Date May 15, 2008

During the General Meeting of Shareholders of dredging contractor Royal Boskalis Westminster nv, which was held today, CEO Peter Berdowski reported that business in the early months of the year continued to be good. Both turnover and equipment utilization were higher than in the comparable period last year. The order book, which has not yet been updated to include the contract for the Second Maasvlakte worth approximately 500 million that was signed early this year, was slightly down on the record level at the end of 2007.

As reported previously, Boskalis reached agreement with the insurers in the first quarter of 2008 about payments relating to the collision involving the hopper W.D. Fairway. All payments, amounting to a total of 167 million, have now been received. This settlement will lead to a positive result of approximately 100 million before taxation.

Boskalis expects turnover to continue increasing this year. Net profits, not including the income from the settlement of the insurance claim for the W.D. Fairway, are expected to match the result for 2007 at least. Peter Berdowski was not yet in a position to make any more detailed announcement about the result for 2008.

Extension Queen of the Netherlands
Following on from previous reports about the extension of the hopper Queen of the Netherlands, the company announced that Boskalis has reached agreement for the execution of the work with Keppel Shipyard Ltd. in Singapore. Work will start in November of this year and will take approximately four months.

Assignment for the extension of Felixstowe harbor
Boskalis also announced that it has been appointed to extend Felixstowe harbor in the United Kingdom. The assignment is worth approximately 70 million. The project involves dredging approximately 3 million cubic meters of material to widen the entrance channel and the berths and reclamation work involving approximately 3.4 million cubic meters of sand for the new terminal.

Smit Terminals
Boskalis also announced that there had been no new developments with respect to the bid for Smit Terminals. In that respect, Peter Berdowski stated that a bid for the entire Smit Internationale company is out of the question at the moment.

Dividend
Boskalis is paying a dividend of 1.19 per share from the result for 2007. This will be a cash dividend, payable from May 27, 2008 onwards.

Royal Boskalis Westminster nv is an international group with a leading position in the world market for dredging services. Its core activities are the construction and maintenance of ports and waterways, land reclamation, coastal defense and riverbank protection. The company holds ten home market positions in and outside Europe and targets all market segments in the dredging industry. It also has positions in strategic partnerships in the Middle East (Archirodon) and in offshore services (Lamnalco). Boskalis has a versatile fleet of over 300 units and operates in over 50 countries across five continents. Including its share in partnerships, Boskalis has approximately 8,000 employees.

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