Apr
26
-
The company’s businesses performed well: revenues
increased by 7.7% in Toll Roads, 8.3% in Services and
24.6% in International Construction. The company also
landed important contracts in Services (Sheffield), Toll
Roads (Highway 407 East Extension), and Construction
(Galicia high-speed railway). -
The main assets reflect the improvement in traffic
and higher fees/tolls, which provided notable growth in
EBITDA: +12% at Canadian toll road 407ETR and 16% at
London’s Heathrow airport, both in local currency
terms. -
The combined Construction and Services backlog
remains at record levels: 22.000 billion euro. -
BAA paid its shareholders a quarterly dividend
amounting to 60 million pounds, 407ETR distributed 87
million Canadian dollars; Ferrovial received 63 million
euro.
Madrid, 26 April 2012.- Ferrovial, a global infrastructure
and services company, obtained 192 million euro in EBITDA
in the first quarter of 2012, compared with 172 million
euro in 1Q11, i.e. an improvement of 11.7%. In the first
few months of 2012, Ferrovial’s main businesses
improved, particularly revenues at Amey (UK), and
international construction, mainly Budimex. Revenues
amounted to 1.707 billion euro, a 2.5% increase.
Net profit in 1Q12 amounted to 7.6 million euro,
contrasting with 224 million euro in the first quarter of
2011, when the company booked gains on the sale of
Swissport and the stake in the M-45 toll road.
The Construction and Services backlog remains at record
levels: 22.000 billion euro. The backlog reflects the
company’s internationalization, as 68% in Construction
and 49% in Services are located in countries other than
Spain.
In the period, BAA paid its shareholders a quarterly
dividend amounting to 60 million pounds, 407ETR distributed
87 million Canadian dollars; Ferrovial received 63 million
euro.
Strong traffic at the main assets
The company’s two main assets, Canadian toll road
407ETR and Heathrow Airport, continue to register positive
traffic performance, which, together with higher tolls and
fees, provided notable growth in their EBITDA: +12% at
407ETR and +16% at Heathrow. International Construction
reported an increase of 24.6% in revenues and of 7.1% in
EBITDA, supported by strong growth by Budimex (revenues up
40%). Several projects commenced in the period, including
some at Webber in the US and the Crossrail project in the
UK. In Services, revenues at Amey expanded by a notable 22%
due to the start-up of several contracts, including road
maintenance in Area 9 (West/Midlands) and in London.
The net cash position (excluding infrastructure projects)
was 518 million euro at the end of the quarter. Including
infrastructure projects, consolidated net debt totaled
5.589 billion euro at the end of the quarter.
The main assets took advantage of opportunities in the
quarter to issue bonds, which were well received by the
market. BAA issued more than 2.200 billion pounds,
strengthening its currency diversification strategy with a
new issue in Swiss francs; previous issues were in pounds,
dollars and euro.
407ETR issued bonds worth 400 million Canadian dollars in
April, enabling it to postpone debt maturities from 2014 to
2042. As a result, the company does not have to address any
major maturities in the coming years.
Despite changes in the company’s consolidation scope
and equity accounting of the 407ETR and BAA, the
company’s geographic and business diversification
strategy in recent years is reflected in its income
statement. The international business accounted for 59% of
revenues and 48% of EBITDA.
Services: Strength in the UK
The Services division attained 733 million euro in revenues
in the first quarter of 2012, i.e. growth of 8.3%, while
EBITDA amounted to 69 million euro. The backlog remains at
record levels: 12.327 billion euro.
UK subsidiary Amey increased revenues by 22% to 369 million
euro, attributable to the commencement of new contracts
awarded in 2011 and greater revenues from pre-existing
contracts. Its backlog amounted to 6.056 billion euro.
Among the important contracts awarded recently, which are
not included in the backlog, of special note is being named
“preferred bidder” by the Sheffield city council
(UK) to maintain the city’s infrastructure for 25
years.
In Spain, revenues totaled 364 million euro and EBITDA
amounted to 47 million euro. The backlog, amounting to
6.271 billion euro, includes two treatment plants in the
Canary Islands. Other notable contracts obtained in Spain
include: two new contracts for upkeep and maintenance of
green areas in 11 districts of Madrid, and start-up of the
Toledo Ecopark.
Toll roads: Positive performance
Toll road revenues rose 7.7% with respect to last year, to
88 million euro. EBITDA increased by 38.2% to 80 million
euro.
Canadian toll road 407ETR continues to perform very soundly
in terms of both traffic and kilometers travelled. Revenues
increased by 9.5% and EBITDA by 12.1% in local currency
terms; this investment is equity-accounted.
Cintra was recently chosen as Preferred Proponent to
design, build, finance and maintain the first phase of
Highway 407 East Extension, in Ontario, Canada.
In Spain, the company also landed the concession for the
Almanzora highway in Almería, which includes building,
maintaining and managing three sections of the Almanzora
highway between Purchena and the A-7 Mediterranean highway.
Construction: Growth continues in international markets
The Construction division obtained 898 million euro in
revenues and 48 million euro in EBITDA in the first three
months of 2012. The backlog remained stable at 9.667
billion euro due to new contract intake at Budimex and
Webber.
The international business contributed revenues of 577
million euro, i.e. 24.6% more than in the same period of
2011, and EBITDA of 23 million euro, up 7.1%. The
international backlog amounted to 6.600 billion euro due to
new projects in the US and the UK, accounting for 68% of
the division total.
Budimex and Webber reported significant growth in the main
line items during the period. Polish subsidiary Budimex
expanded revenues by 46.5% to 265 million euro, while the
US subsidiary experienced a 23% increase to 115 million.
The Spanish market maintained the trend observed in the
last few quarters, and fewer projects were executed in
building and civil engineering, despite recent contract
awards such as the 108.8 million euro project to build the
rail bed on the Padorenol Tunnel-Lubián section of the
high-speed railway line between Madrid and Galicia. The
backlog amounted to 3.067 billion euro in the period.
Airports: Heathrow traffic up 4.4%
BAA attained 589 million pounds in revenues, a 10.6%
increase, while EBITDA amounted to 247 million pounds, a
10.7% increase.
Traffic performed positively in the first quarter, growing
by 2.4%. Heathrow’s traffic totaled 15.7 million
passengers, i.e. 4.4% growth in the first three months of
the year. The high occupancy, increase in fees and growth
in retail revenues are behind this strong performance.
Europe and Long Haul continued to show strong growth in
traffic, with North Atlantic destinations as the top
performers.
On 23 April, BAA announced it had reached an agreement to
sell 100% of its stake in Edinburgh Airport to Global
Infrastructure Partners (“GIP”) for 807.2 million
pounds, i.e. 16.7 times EBITDA.
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