11
april 2014
international
construction
BUSINESSNEWS
BUSINESSHIGHLIGHTS
AUSTRALIA
Hochtief dismisses
Leighton leadership
German contractor moves to cement control of
Australian company
H
ochtief has installed its CEO, Marcelino Fernández Verdes as CEO
of Leighton Holdings, the Australian contractor in which it has a
controlling interest.Themove follows Hochtief’s offer to increase its
stake from58.77% to73.82% at a cost of someUS$1.09billion.
Leighton’s out-going CEO, HamishTyrwhitt and CFO Peter Gregg have
had their employment terminated, and they will each receive a year’s pay in
lieuof notice.
Leighton chairman Robert Humphris said, “Hamish and Peter have
both been outstanding leaders of our business, having successfully brought
Leighton through a periodof stabilisation and set the company on a pathway
to growthby substantially rebasing our operations.TheBoard and I sincerely
thank themboth for their contribution.”
In addition to Mr Fernández, two further Hochtief-nominated directors,
PedroLopez Jimenez and JoseLuisdelVallePerez, havebeenappointed to the
Leighton Board. Other Hochtief appointments are expected to come as the
company increases its stake.
US
Access boost
Terex saw a +1.4% increase in
revenues to US$ 7.08 billion and a
+14% gain in operating profits to
US$ 419million last year, thanks to
a surge in sales from its aerial work
platform and telehandler business,
Genie.Thecompany’sotherbusiness
lines generallyperformedweaker last
year than in2012.
QATAR
Highway contract
Habtoor Leighton Group (HLG)
in a joint venture with Al Jaber
Engineering has been awarded a
QAR 6.15 billion (US$ 1.7 billion)
contract to design and construct
a 56 km road in Qatar. Awarded
by Qatar’s public works authority,
Ashghal, the contract is for package
three of the New Orbital Highway
andTruckRoute nearDoha.Design
and construction is expected to take
36months to complete.
FRANCE
2014 recovery?
Lafarge forecast overall growth of
between+2%and+5% in itsmarkets
this year, fuelled by emerging
economies and the recovery in
North America. However, in 2013,
its revenues fell -4% year-on-year
to € 15.2 billion (US$ 20.8 billion)
and the company’s operating profit
slipped -14% to€2.08billion (US$
2.86 billion). Net profit was up
+65% to € 601 million (US$ 823
million) thanks to a number of one-
offbenefits, including the sale of the
company’s operations inHonduras.
US
Net loss
Granite ended fiscal 2013 year in
the red, with a net loss of US$ 36.4
million, compared with a net profit
of US$ 45.3 million for 2012.
Restructuring and impairment
charges impacted the full-year result.
But looking ahead to 2014, the
contractor forecast a year of growth.
It said it expected to bid on more
thanUS$13billionof large projects
in the coming year.
VALUEOF 1:
SYMBOL AU$
BRL
UK£ CNY
€
INR
YEN MXN RUR SAR
ZAR KRW CHF
US$
AustralianDollar
AU$
0.47 0.539 5.47 0.656 56.1
92
11.91 31.8
3.38
9.79
960 0.802 0.901
BrazilianReal
BRL
2.15
0.251 2.54 0.305 26.1
42.9
5.54
14.8
1.57
4.56
447 0.373 0.419
BritishPound
UK£
1.85
3.98
10.1
1.22 103.9 171
22.1
59.0
6.26
18.1
1780 1.49
1.67
Chinese Yuan
CNY
0.183 0.393 0.099
0.120 10.26 16.9
2.18
5.83 0.618 1.791
176 0.147 0.165
Euro
€
1.52
3.27
0.82
8.33
85.4
141
18.1
48.5
5.15 14.91 1463 1.22
1.37
IndianRupee
INR
0.018 0.038 0.010 0.097 0.012
1.6
0.212 0.568 0.0603 0.175 17.1 0.0143 0.0161
Japanese Yen
YEN
0.011 0.023 0.006 0.059 0.007 0.608
0.1291 0.345 0.0366 0.1061 10.4 0.0087 0.0098
MexicanPeso
MXN
0.084 0.180 0.045 0.459 0.055 4.71
7.75
2.67 0.284 0.822
81
0.067 0.0756
RussianRuble
RUR
0.031 0.067 0.017 0.172 0.021 1.76
2.90 0.374
0.106 0.307 30.2 0.0252 0.0283
Saudi Riyal
SAR
0.296 0.636 0.160 1.618 0.194 16.597 27.304 3.525 9.427
2.90
284 0.237 0.267
SouthAfricanRand ZAR
0.102 0.220 0.055 0.558 0.067 5.728 9.424 1.217 3.254 0.345
98
0.082 0.092
SouthKoreanWon KRW
0.0010 0.0022 0.0006 0.0057 0.0007 0.0584 0.0960 0.0124 0.0332 0.0035 0.0102
0.00084 0.0009
Swiss Franc
CHF
1.25
2.68
0.67
6.81
0.82 69.90 114.99 14.85 39.70 4.21 12.20 1197
1.123
USDollar
US$
1.11 2.385 0.599 6.067 0.7286 62.24 102.4 13.22 35.35 3.75 10.865 1066.01 0.8904
For exampleUS$ 1=AU$ 1.11
Exchange rates: March 2014
CHINA
Volvo Construction Equipment has
opened a new technology centre in
Jinan, China. The 50,000m
2
sitewill
be used to developmachines and
components for emergingmarkets.
The SEK 270million (US$ 42million)
centre includes design offices,
workshops, two testing buildings and
a test track.
ITALY
Italian contractor Salini Impregilo has
reported its first annual results as a
combined entity, with revenues of
€
3.97 billion (US$5.5 billion), up
+13.6% on the 2012 pro-forma figure
of
€
3.5 billion (US$4.8 billion).
EBITDA sat at
€
426million (US$ 586
million),more than double the 2012
result.
CHINA
Caterpillar has agreed to sell the assets
of its Caterpillar TunnelingCanada
Corporation business toChinese
company LiaoningCenscience Industry
Co., Ltd. Cat acquired the business,
formerly known as Lovat, inmid-2008
but had announced inMay last year
that it would close the operation.
GERMANY
JCB is to close its factory in
Gatersleben, Germany, a facility
it aquiredwhen it bought German
compaction equipmentmanufacturer
Vibromax in 2005. Productionwill
be transferred to theUK and India
and JCB said thiswould improve its
competitiveness in the sector.
UK
Sandvik transfers UKmanufacturing
Sandvik has announced it will cease
manufacturingat itsmobilecrushing
and screening equipment factory in
Swadlincote, UK. Production will
be transferred to its Ballygawley,UK
plant.
The company said the decision
to phase out production over the
next 12 months followed a review
of its UK manufacturing capacity
and a supply chain optimisation
programme. It said theglobalmarket
for its products hadnot recovered as
fast as it had hoped. Sandvik will
continue to house product support,
research & development, sourcing,
marketing
and
aftermarket,
functions in Swadlincote, and 160
of the 360 manufacturing jobs will
be transferred toBallygawley.
