Acciona predicts construction recovery

Spanish-based international contracting group Acciona has said it expects to see a recovery in international construction and that it was in the process of identifying medium-term opportunities.

It said in its infrastructure division, a new business area focused on turnkey projects for industrial and energy generation plants, transmission and distribution networks, and gas infrastructure would begin to report results this year after experiencing strong growth in 2015. In the last financial year, the industrial area was awarded contracts worth €453 million against €47 million in 2014.

The group as a whole said it planned to invest about €600 million in 2016 in line with the evolution of its business divisions, while maintaining a solid balance sheet and comfortable ratio of debt:EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization).

The company said that following 2015, a year of transition, it expected to take advantage of a number of opportunities in international markets to consolidate growth in 2016, with approximately €600 million earmarked for investment.

It said this capital expenditure would be linked to the evolution of Acciona’s business divisions.

The Energy Division will account for two-thirds of the planned outlays, linked to about 300MW of new capacity to be installed in 2016. The investment will be split 50:50 between a photovoltaic plant at El Romero, Chile – said to be the largest in Latin America – and two wind farms at San Román in the US, and Bannur in India.

Acciona’s construction business aims to extend its international reach in 2016 by opening new offices in the Middle East and south east Asia.