Vinci Order Book Hits Record High Despite Lower Half-Year Profit

The Tip Desk · June 30, 2012 · 2 min read

The construction and concessions group saw its contracting backlog reach 33.2 billion euros by June 30.

The contracting backlog for the construction and concessions group reached a record 33.2 billion euros as of June 30. This figure represents an 11% increase over 12 months, with international growth at 19% and French growth at 5%. The company said more than 40% of this backlog is scheduled for execution in 2012.

Operating performance was impacted by French government measures and seasonal factors. The résultat opérationnel sur activité, or ROPA, fell 1.7% to 1,542 million euros for the first half of 2012, compared to 1,569 million euros in the first half of 2011. The ROPA as a percentage of revenue declined from 9.1% to 8.6%. The company said that excluding a 35 million euro profit-sharing bonus provision, the ROPA would have risen 0.5%.

Revenue for the first half of 2012 rose 3.6% to 17.9 billion euros. This growth was driven by a 3.5% increase in the contracting branch and a 1.2% increase in concessions. The company reported that 36% of total revenue was generated outside of France.

Within the concessions segment, ROPA for VINCI Autoroutes rose 1.0% to 902 million euros. This increase occurred despite a decline in traffic and higher depreciation charges. Conversely, ROPA for VINCI Concessions fell 17.6% to 91 million euros, which the company attributed to asset impairments in Greece and a decline in the VINCI Concessions holding.

In the contracting division, ROPA fell 8.3% to 497 million euros. The ROPA as a percentage of revenue for this segment dropped to 3.2% from 3.7% in the first half of 2011. VINCI Energies provided a point of divergence, reporting a 2.9% increase in ROPA to 230 million euros.

Net profit attributable to the Group fell 3.6% to 784 million euros. The company said that excluding French government measures, the net profit attributable to the Group would have risen 1%. Net profit per share for the period was 1.44 euro, a 2.6% decrease.

Net financial debt stood at 14.2 billion euros on June 30, 2012. This is a decrease of 0.3 billion euros over 12 months. However, debt increased by 1.6 billion euros since December 31, 2011, which the company attributed to seasonal working capital degradation, higher investments in motorway concessions, external growth, dividend payments, and share buybacks.

To manage its capital structure, the company bought 12.4 million shares for 456 million euros during the semester. Treasury shares represented 6.50% of the capital on June 30, 2012, up from 4.43% on December 31, 2011. On July 20, 2012, ASF signed a new 1.8 billion euro medium-term credit line for five years to replace a 2 billion euro line expiring in December 2013.