International boost for OHL

The engineering and construction division of Spanish contractor OHL achieved sales growth of 23.8% and reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of €140.5 million for the first nine months of 2015, which it said was practically in line with the same period in the previous financial year.

The division was said to account for 84.4% of the group’s sales and 19.5% of its EBITDA.

The group said that on an operating level, the first nine months had been characterised by good performances in all three of its divisions – concessions, engineering and construction, and developments – achieving 22.9% growth in total sales.

It said that construction was the principal activity of the engineering and construction division, and contributed 84.8% of its sales – which worked out to be 71.6% of the group’s total sales. In the division, construction provided growth of 16.4% in sales and 4.5% in EBITDA.

It said the growth in sales was a result of a good performance of the group’s international operations, particularly in the US. This was thanks to new projects in Texas and California, as well as its other US subsidiaries – Judlau and Community Asphalt. The group also saw more intensive activity in the Middle East with the Mecca-Medina high-speed rail project, where the pace of the work has been stepped up, it said.

Construction EBITDA represented 7.1% on sales for the first nine months, in comparison to 7.9% during the same period in the previous year.

OHL said its current short-term order book, worth €7.4 billion, represented approximately 28.4 months of sales. It said 82.8% of the total was international.