Webuild reports strong growth
By Catrin Jones21 March 2022
One of the many projects WeBuild is working on
The Webuild Group reported strong growth results in the 2021 financial year, with new orders of €11.3 billion (US$12.5 billion) meaning that the contractor has an order book of €45.4 billion (US$50.4 billion).
The Italy-based group stated in a press release that their recovery in production activities continued in the second half of the year – enabling the Group to close 2021 with strong growth despite the continuing pandemic and critical inflationary trends in raw material supplies.
The report says revenues grew by 40% to €6.7 billion (US$7.4 billion); EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) grew by 95% to €451.3 million (US$499 million), exceeding pre-pandemic performance. This a significant improvement for the company compared to June 2021 (negative for €540 million/US$597 million) and December 2020 (negative for €442 million/US$489 million)
At the financial level, Webuild recorded their best result since 2014, showing a positive financial position (net cash) of €467 million (US$516 million) and a declining gross debt equal to €2.65 billion (US$2.93 billion).
The company’s domestic market of Italy accounted for 44% of its construction order backlog and 32% of total turnover by the end of 2021.
Webuild said that a €400 million (US$442 million) Sustainability-Linked Bond was issued in early 2022, further improving the Group’s financial structure by extending the average life of its debt to 3.7 years and increasing the fixed-rate component to over 85%.
The contractor stated that sustainability remains at the heart of the its development strategy and that nearly all – 99% – of Webuild’s 2021 revenues are eligible for the European Union Taxonomy, the classification system for sustainable economic activities, confirming the Group’s role as a global player in climate transition.
