* Q3 output 3.97 bln eur vs Reuters poll avg 4.16 bln
* EBIT 162 mln eur vs poll avg 177 mln
* Keeps target for full-year EBIT of at least 260 mln eur (Adds details on profits, countries)
VIENNA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Austrian builder Strabag set itself an ambitious target for fourth-quarter profit after reporting its 10th consecutive decline in quarterly output on Friday.
The leading building in central and eastern Europe said it still expected to make full-year earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of at least 260 million euros ($354 million), after an EBIT result of 40 million euros in the first nine months.
Third-quarter EBIT fell 4 percent to 162 million euros, missing the average estimate of 177 million in a Reuters poll, as Strabag rapidly depreciated specialty equipment in which it had invested for non-European operations.
Output fell 3 percent to 3.97 billion euros, also missing the poll average, due to continuing weakness in Poland after the end of a construction boom there, though the company said it detected the first signs of a slight improvement in the Polish market.
Strabag, which had previously said it expected roughly stable full-year output, now said it would nearly reach last year's level of 14 billion euros.
The company's order backlog stood at 14.0 billion euros at the end of the third quarter, down from 14.6 billion a year earlier, as it completed large projects including the Olympic Village in Sochi as well as orders in Canada and Benelux. ($1 = 0.7353 euros) (Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Elizabeth Piper and David Holmes)