Procurement of civil works by the Ministries of Transport and Ecological Transition fell last year by 57%, bringing it back to 2015 levels, as reported by Expansión newspaper. The company which benefitted most was ACS, which topped the rankings of both ministries, with a total portfolio of €279Mn. The low activity led a non-civil construction company such as Siemens to take second place (€133Mn), thanks to a railway signaling contract. In terms of agencies, the main player was once again Adif, with a total of €784Mn. Nevertheless, this was a slump compared to the €2.600 Bn tendered by the company in 2019.
Intermoney analysts flag that Spain is not one of ACS’ main markets:
“So the portfolio in Spain for construction is less than 4% of the total (€65 billion). This is somewhat lower even than the percentage of revenues which certainly did not suffer major variations in 2020 with respect to 2019.”
“A different case is that of FCC, where the domestic market accounts for more than half of construction revenues (€848 millions in 2020), with growth of 28% last year, mainly due to private contracting.”
The level of investment by the State is expected to recover, at least partly, in 2021, helped if possible by European funds earmarked for the effects of the pandemic. Last week it was revealed the Central Administration is planning to relaunch the private road plan, which would involve an investment of 5 billion euros.
