Sales and profits down at FCC

Spanish contractor FCC reported net profit of €108 million in 2011, down 64% year-on-year, while revenues fell 1.3% to €11.8 billion.

The company was hit with a €301 million write-down on its cement business, Cementos Portland Valderrivas. It said were it not for that adjustment, its net profit would have exceeded 2010's figure.

In addition, infrastructure-related demand in Spain continued to decline. However, FCC said the impact of this was offset by its international revenues, which grew 13.6% in 2011 to represent 52.4% of the total.

FCC said it saw the greatest revenue growth in America (48%), followed by Eastern Europe (16.4%), the UK (9.2%), and Austria and Germany (5.1%).

Overall, the company's revenues from construction fell 0.1% year-on-year to €6.7 billion. The biggest decline was seen in the residential building division, where revenues fell 24.4% to €579.5 million, while revenues from civil works fell 5.9% to €3.8 billion.

Offsetting this, non-residential revenues were up 20.2% compared to 2010 at €1.4 billion, while revenues from the industrial fitting and maintenance division jumped 27% year-on-year to €880 million.

The company's order backlog fell by a marginal 0.2% year-on-year to €35.2 billion at the end of 2011. The international proportion of the backlog grew 8.5% to €13.5 billion, while the domestic backlog fell 5% to €21.7 billion.

Looking ahead, FCC said it expected international growth to offset revenue declines in Spain. It also forecast that infrastructure spending in Spain would reach the bottom in 2012 - hitting a 30-year low after five years of "extreme adjustment".