UPDATE 1-Builder Skanska cuts Sweden outlook, sets extra dividend

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STOCKHOLM, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Swedish builder Skanska SKAb.ST cut its outlook for the Swedish non-residential building market as it posted slightly lower quarterly profits than expected on Friday while proposing an extra dividend to shareholders.

The Nordic region's largest builder said it had taken additional measures in Sweden to improve profitability during the year and targeted improvement also in its U.S. business.

Skanska lowered its 12-month outlook for the Swedish non-residential building market and for the U.S. civil market, but raised it for the civil market in Britain.

"The pandemic has had a negative impact on demand in the construction market, mainly from the private clients and in commercial and residential building construction," Chief Executive Anders Danielsson said in a statement.

Skanska said it would propose a dividend of 9.50 crowns per share, including an extra dividend of 3.00 crowns.

Order bookings at the Construction division, which books the bulk of group revenues, shrank to 39.8 billion crowns from 49.0 billion. The division has restructured and adopted a strategy to bid more selectively for higher-margin contracts only.

Operating profit at Skanska, one of the biggest builders in the United States, was 6.59 billion Swedish crowns ($778.1 million) against a year-ago 2.45 billion. Analysts had on average forecast a profit of 6.84 billion crowns, according to Refinitiv estimates. nL8N2K9126

($1 = 8.4699 Swedish crowns)

(Reporting by Helena Soderpalm; Editing by Simon Johnson)

((helena.soderpalm@thomsonreuters.com; +46 8 700 10 15; Reuters Messaging: helena.soderpalm.reuters.com@reuters.net))