VINCI - 2008 annual report

82
BUSINESS REPORT CONSTRUCTION
Overseas France
Business activity at VINCI Construction Filiales Internationales in Overseas
France reached a record €550 million (up 14.5%) as a result in particular
of the major projects under way in French Guiana (Soyuz launch site),
Reunion Island (Route des Tamarins) and New Caledonia (Goro-Nickel
project). These projects call for the complementary expertise of VINCI
Construction Filiales Internationales, VINCI Construction Grands Projets
and VINCI Construction France. Public-private partnerships (PPPs) also
constitute a growth driver, illustrated by the contract signed in early 2009
to build the Port Réunion grain terminal.
United Kingdom
The acquisition of the Taylor Woodrow Construction company, a benchmark
player in the British construction market, was a highlight of the year.
This operation resulted in the creation of VINCI Construction UK, a new
entity ranked among the market leaders. It enables VINCI Construction
UK to expand in the facilities management, rail and airport infrastructure
and public building (health care, education) sectors while reinforcing its
portfolio of PPP contracts. VINCI Construction UK has low exposure to
the residential property market, and was thus able to hold up well in a
poor economic environment. Taylor Woodrow Construction’s substantial
track record in nuclear civil engineering will also stand the company in
good stead as the British nuclear programme is re-started. It also against
this backdrop that VINCI Construction UK and VINCI Construction Grands
Projets signed an exclusive partnership agreement with Balfour Beatty, a
British civil engineering major, to build EPR type nuclear power stations in
the United Kingdom.
Belgium
Revenue at CFE (in which VINCI Construction holds a 46.8% interest) rose
14% to €1.7 billion. Activity increased across all CFE divisions as well as
in dredging, carried out by its subsidiary DEME (see page 84). In construction,
anticipating the slump in the building market, CFE put together
a large order book in civil engineering. The projects that will be driving
this sector in coming months and years include: the construction of the
Diabolo tunnel in Zaventem (Brussels airport), the design and construction
of the Delft rail tunnel, the construction of the Liefk enshoek rail link in
the port of Antwerp and the construction of the Coentunnel in Amsterdam
– these last two PPP contracts having been signed in a consortium
with VINCI Concessions in 2008. Meanwhile CFE continued to reinforce its
multi-technical division, where activity grew 69% thanks to several recent
acquisitions – including, in 2008, Stevens NV (railway signalling, airport
wiring and runway lighting, communications networks) and a stake in
Druart (climate engineering).
Germany
With revenue up 11%, SKE confi rmed its performance in the facilities
management market and continued to diversify its longstanding base. The
United States Armed Forces in Germany, its longstanding customer, now
represents only about half of its business activity, with construction, renovation
and/or comprehensive maintenance of public buildings accounting
for the other half. Three new PPP contracts with a total value of €159
million, covering the construction and 25-year maintenance of schools,
were signed in 2008. Overall, SKE manages nine contracts with an average
duration of 22 years and an overall value of over €600 million.
VINCI __ 2008 ANNUAL REPORT
After modernising the wastwater treatment plant
in Lodz, Warbud, the Polish subsidiary of VINCI
Construction Filiales Internationales, won the
design-build contract in early 2008 to modernise
and extend the Czajka wastewater treatment plant
in Warsaw, which will be the country’s largest once
it is commissioned.
Central Europe
At VINCI Construction Filiales Internationales in Central Europe, revenue
came in at €770 million. Business remained brisk in Poland, where
Warbud, a subsidiary traditionally focused on building, continued to
expand into civil engineering and environmental business lines, notably
winning a major contract to build a wastewater treatment plant in
Warsaw. This diversifi cation of activity boosts Warbud’s resilience in a
market that is stabilising. In the Czech Republic, activity grew substantially
(up 40%) in the civil engineering market, where SMP is a benchmark
player; in building, the merger of the two subsidiaries Prumstav
and FCC enhances our competitiveness in a declining market.
Africa
Sogea-Satom’s revenue again increased substantially (up 17%) to
€632 million. With locations in some 20 countries, primarily in Frenchspeaking
Africa, Sogea-Satom is building on its historic roots and the
quality of its expertise and methods to maintain its edge in a more and
more competitive environment. Activity remained buoyant in earthworks
and roadworks, the company’s two main business lines, with several
major projects in Cameroon, Guinea, Chad, Burundi, Benin and Congo.
Sogea-Satom continued, in parallel, to develop its hydraulic engineering
and civil engineering activities, winning a new water supply system
contract in Tanzania (pipelines and treatment plants) and several cement
works construction contracts in Morocco. The company’s excellent order
book at the end of 2008 heralds an ongoing high level of activity in 2009
in all the areas in which Sogea-Satom operates.