Growth for Ferrovial

While Ferrovial recorded a growth in revenues and an increase in the order book for its construction division in the first quarter of 2017, the engineering company’s figures also showed a fall in profitability for its construction projects.

Spanish-based Ferrovial said that the positive performance in all areas of construction, which amounted to an 18% like-for-like growth in revenues for the construction division as a whole, could be attributed to an increase in contracting in leading international markets. This was said to be particularly true for the US, UK and Australia.

International revenues were responsible for 83% of the division’s revenues, with the focus on the traditional strategic markets of Poland, North America, the UK, Australia and Chile, said the company.

The rise in revenues was also said to be helped by the recent incorporation of Pepper Lawson – the water infrastructure and commercial construction specialist – whose revenues in the period between January and March 2017 came to €53 million.

The division’s order book stood at €9.31 billion, up 2.4% when compared with December 2016, excluding some recently awarded contracts, notably the I-66 managed lane in Virginia, US, worth €2 billion, and a section of the Grand Parkway road in Houston, US, worth €800 million.

In contrast to this growth, profitability fell – although still above the sector, according to the company.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBIDTA) was down 4.9%, said to be impacted by a mix of projects currently under way across the division, with lower weight of value added in-house design.

However, Ferrovial said this was partially offset by the 89.3% rise, in comparable terms, in EBIDTA for Poland’s Budimex, which was mainly due to the settlement of the infrastructure projects contracts nearly completed.