15
november 2014
international
construction
NEWSREPORT
International activity
activity
(US$ 230 billion) against € 168 billion (US$ 216 billion) of
work carried out. It was the third year in a row that the value
of contracts won had risen, but that did not translate intomore
revenues for international contractors this year, as the -2.7%
decline clearly indicates.
It is not clearwhy the value of revenues does not trackwith the
valueofnewcontractswon– itmaybe that therearecancellations
which are not reflected in the figures.
In any case, the decline in cross-border European work for
European contractors could continue to have an effect, as this
remains the biggestmarket for overseaswork.
iC
As strong as the growth was in Africa and the Middle East
last year, they are relatively small markets as far as European
contractors are concerned.TheMiddle East is the smallest single
region for them worth some 7.3% of total revenues last year.
Africa is more significant at 9.1%, being larger than both the
MiddleEast or LatinAmerica.
The Latin American market itself had another year of solid
growth last year as far as European contractors were concerned.
The value of work done was up +15.7% to € 12.8 billion
(US$ 16.4 billion), while the value of new contracts won was
up +5.6% to € 14.2 billion (US$ 18.2 billion), reversing the
downturn innewwork seen in2012.
Themost significant region for internationally active European
contractors is Asia & Oceania, which had mixed fortunes last
year. The value of work carried out was down -1.5% to € 30.2
billion (US$ 38.7 billion) last year, the first decline in revenues
from this region since 2006. However, there was growth for the
second consecutive year in the value of new contracts awarded,
taking this figure to€38.3billion (US$49.3billion).
Who’swinning?
The EIC study of international revenues and contract awards
took in 178 contractors headquartered in 13 different European
countries last year.The most significant national forces in terms
of the value of work done were France andGermany, with total
turnover of more than € 30 billion (US$ 38.5 billion) each, and
13 contractors from each country contributing to the statistics.
The most numerous national group was Turkey, where 47
contractors carried out work worth € 13.7 billion (US$17.6
billion) last year.
This illustrates the diversity of the sector. Whereas France or
Germany has a small number of very large contractors carrying
out anaverageof€2.4billion (US$3.1billion)ofworkapiece last
year, the average internationally activeTurkish contractor did just
€ 290 million (US$ 375 million) of international construction
in2013.
Having said that, there has been fairly steady growth in
international work by Turkish contractors over the last 10 years
or so. Back in2003, they accounted for less than2%ofEuropean
international contractors’ revenues. In2013 it stood at 8.4%.
Over the sameperiod,German andFrench contractors’ share of
turnover has remained fairly stable at about 20% each. Austrian
contractors command about a 10% share, as do the Spanish,
which have seen good growth in the last 10 years, although not
quite as spectacular as that of theTurkish contractors.
The losing national group over the last 10 years has been
Sweden,whichhas seen its contractors’ shareof total international
revenues fall fromover 20% in2003 to less than10% last year.
Outlook
While growth in incoming orders, and the fact that incoming
orders stoodwell aheadof revenues in the 2013figures shouldbe
a positive sign, it is not certain that revenue growth will resume
next year.There appears to be some disconnect between the two
sets of statistics.
In 2012 for example, new work won stood at € 179 billion
Share of revenues by region
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Europe US&Canada Central &SouthAmerica Asia&Oceania Africa Middle East
Share of revenues by contractors’ home country
Austrian French German Swedish Turkish Spanish Others
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
