LONDON | This is what happens when the size of your construction sector remains under the 10 percent per GDP level, and the cost of credit for the State and the country’s banking sector is mild enough as to allow a slow deleverage process. The Nationwide house price index reported Thursday that UK house prices edge up by 0.3% in May. Over the last eighteen months, house prices have been remarkably stable…
LONDON | The second release of UK GDP figures shed some light on the surprisingly large decline in GDP in the first quarter. The revised figures showed an even larger drop in the construction sector, with -18% or a -1.3% contribution to quarterly GDP growth. Not to worry, said JP Morgan in Monday’s note. Even if the figures are correct, however, the sector only represents 8% of economy (unlike in some other…
MADRID | Spain’s Ferrovial announced Wednesday that its subsidiary Cintra Infraestructuras, in a 50% consortium with SNC-Lavalin, was awarded the €78-million contract for the first phase of the Highway 407 East project in Ontario, Canada. The group was appointed by Infrastructure Ontario and the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. Phase one of the new highway will extend 22 kilometers east from Brock Road in Pickering, Ontario to Harmony Road in Oshawa, Ontario….
MADRID | The Spanish infrastructure and services company FCC reported this week it had obtained €2.4 billion in revenues in the first quarter of 2012, on par with the same period last year, with international revenues increasing by 15.6%. FCC obtained a net attributable profit of €16.6 million in the first quarter, suffering a decline of €23.9 million year-on-year, reflecting the impact of the company’s most cyclical activities. Earnings before interest,…
MADRID | Spain’s ACS Group confirmed the financing for the construction of the Edmonton highway in Alberta, Canada, was in after the success of an initial bond issuance that obtained 500 million of Canadian dollars or €380 million. It is a 34-year duration contract valued at €1.4 billion. The financial City of Madrid welcomed the news as a proof that capital is still available for attractive projects. Foreign deals will…
MADRID | Grupo ACS said Tuesday that the company recorded a net profit in the first quarter of 2012 of €207 million. The Spanish firm published its consolidated results today, showing that net sales of ACS in the first quarter of 2012 totaled €9,035 million, 144.8% more than last year. Growth in comparable terms, also considering the sales of Hochtief in the first quarter of 2011, accounted for a 4.9%. ACS…
MADRID | The joint venture team headed by FCC Construction, Shimmick Construction Company and Impregilo won the bid for the Gerald Desmond Bridge Replacement Project design-build contract, Port of Long Beach and Caltrans officials announced. Major participants in the proposal included Arup North America and Biggs Cardosa Associates. A decision by the Port’s Board of Harbor Commissioners on the actual award of the contract is expected in late June, with construction kickoff…
LONDON/MADRID | Financial analysts in Madrid agreed in their notes to investors on Tuesday that the UK Coalition government’s intention of privatising part of the road network of the country is a subject of major interest for Spanish infrastructure and construction companies. Banesto Bolsa experts described the decision as a clear ‘opportunity’ for Spanish firms, some of which already have a vast presence in the British transport services sector, namely…
On the blog Nada es Gratis (There’s no such thing as free a lunch), the economics professor Gerard Llobet has published an article about what he believes will represent one of the key aspects in the future of Spain. What will businesses do if, as it is predicted, the construction sector will lose weight in the post-crisis Spain? Companies will hardly be able to compete with other countries with much lower…
As published on Monday in the Spanish business press, India is planning a 1,800 km high-speed line to alleviate its saturated freight train network, as well as to strengthen the country’s industrial development. The Spanish construction companies OHL, ACS, San José, Isolux, Sacyr, Aldesa and Assignia have all signed several alliances in India in order to bid on this contract. “The Spanish engineering and construction sectors are seeking to replicate in…