Vinci remained the largest contractor in Europe last year, according to a league table compiled by Construction Europe magazine, which analysed the financial results of Europe’s largest construction companies for its CE-100 rankings.
Bouygues lost the second position it has held for more than a decade to Spain’s ACS, which took a majority stake in Germany’s largest contractor Hochtief. This took its revenues to €28.5bn last year, allowing it to leapfrog both Bouygues and Hochtief.
The rest of the top 10 featured Austrian company Strabag, Sweden’s Skanska and Italy’s Saipem, with the UK’s Balfour Beatty managing to secure 10th place.
But Balfour Beatty’s €10.9bn turnover outranked Germany’s Bilfinger & Berger, BAM from the Netherlands, and Spain’s Ferrovial.
The CE-100 achieved an average operating margin of just 4.41% in 2012, down from 5.01% the previous year. The previous low in profitability was set in 2000 at 4.71%.
Meanwhile, the magazine’s sister title, International Construction, looked at global contractors for a Top 200 ranking, where China State Construction Engineering Corporation claimed the top spot.
The next two places were held by two Chinese railway contractors, with Vinci in fourth position. But two other Chinese contractors – China Communications Construction Group and China Metallurgical Group (MCC) – were also ranked in the top 10.
They were joined by Vinci, ACS, Bouygues and Hochtief from Europe, while Bechtel was the only US contractor in the top 10.
The highest-placed Japanese construction company was Daiwa House at no.12.
Chris Sleight, editor of International Construction, said: “The slowdown in Chinese construction activity has clearly had an impact on this year’s rankings, but there was still growth for many of the country’s largest contractors last year.
“At the same time, we have seen improvements for global contractors focused on key areas such as energy and resources, and we have also seen a surge for companies in key emerging markets, most notably Brazil and to a lesser extent, India.”
