Skanska fourth-quarter operating profit, 2018 dividend lag expectations

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish builder Skanska reported on Friday a smaller rise than expected in fourth-quarter operating profit and proposed a lower dividend than expected.

Operating profit at the Nordic region's biggest builder, and one of the biggest in the United States, was 2.38 billion crowns (£198.5 million) against a mean forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts for 2.64 billion. A year earlier, the profit was 738 million.

Skanska proposed a dividend of 6.00 crowns per share, down from 8.25 crowns and below the 8.35 crowns seen by analysts.

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom, editing by Helena Soderpalm)