LatAm's weight in Spanish construction firms’ portfolios

Spain’s biggest construction groups – OHLA, Sacyr, Acciona, FCC, Ferrovial and ACS – closed the first half with a total project portfolio of 205bn euros (US$212bn), the highest in five years.

The projects include major infrastructure projects in Colombia, Mexico, Chile and Peru.

SACYR

The group posted first-half revenues of almost 2.6bn euros, up 20% year-on-year. Latin America represented 40% of the amount, making the region its second largest market in terms of revenue behind Europe. 

Its portfolio stood at 46.8bn euros at the end of June, 8% higher than at the end of 2021.

The portfolio includes the following projects in Latin America:

Route 78 concession (Chile, US$813mn, in construction-operation)
Buin-Paine hospital (Chile, US$113mn, in detail engineering stage)
AVO I expressway (Chile, US$752mn, finished construction in July)
Camino de la Fruta concession (Chile, US$513mn, in construction)
El Tepual airport (Chile, US$31mn, in construction)
Pamplona-Cucuta highway (Colombia, US$640mn, in construction)
Central railway (Uruguay, US$1bn, in construction)
Routes 2 and 7 widening (Paraguay, US$520mn, in construction)
Longitudinal de la Sierra highway stretch 2 (Peru, US$249mn, in construction)

ACCIONA

The group’s total backlog was nearly 20.6bn euros at the end of June, 12% higher than at the end of December. Latin America represented 29% of the portfolio.

The region also represented 15% of Acciona’s H1 infrastructure revenue of 2.65bn euros.

Some of the main contracts in Latin America in Acciona’s portfolio are:

Sao Paulo metro line 6 (Brazil, US$2.3bn, in construction)
El Niño hospital (Panama, US$444mn, in construction)
Panamericana highway. Puente de las Américas-Arraiján stretch (Panama, US$413mn, in construction)
Riachuelo water system. Stage 2 (Argentina, US$245mn, in construction)
Boca del Río water system management (Mexico, US$1.8bn, in operation-construction)
Los Merinos wastewater treatment plant (Ecuador, US$162mn, in construction)
La Serena hospital (Chile, US$233mn, expected to start works next year)

OHLA

OHLA’s first half revenues reached 1.45bn euros, a 10.7% year-on-year increase. Latin America represented 17.5%. 

The portfolio reached 7.08bn euros at the end of June, a 22% increase from six months earlier. Nearly 94% correspond to short-term investments (newly awarded contracts and expansions), and Latin America accounts for around 21% of that.

The portfolio includes the following contracts: 

Biobío hospital network (Chile, US$295mn, in engineering stage)
Casma-Huarmey river defenses (Peru, US$195mn, in early stage)
Chircama and Virú rivers flood control (Peru, US$137mn, in early stage)
Bogotá northern access road-stage 2 (Colombia, US$350mn, in early stage)

FERROVIAL

Unlike the above groups, Ferrovial did not specify the geographical make-up of its revenues or portfolio, which during the first half reached 3.5bn euros and 20bn euros, respectively.

Ferrovial was the only one of the six main Spanish construction groups to see negative growth in its backlog in H1, falling 3% compared to the end of December.

Some of the main projects the firm is working on in Latin America are:

Ruta del Cacao highway (Colombia, US$724mn, in construction)
Santiago metro line 3 extension (Chile, US$378mn, in construction, only complementary works)
New control tower for Lima airport (Peru, US$60mn, in construction, in partnership with Acciona)

ACS

By the end of June ACS’s portfolio reached 69bn euros, the highest of all Spain’s main construction groups and 15.7% more than in December.

While it did not specify how much was allocated to Latin America, it did say that the Americas as a whole represented 55%, although mostly concentrated in the US.

As for Latin America, ACS is part of the following projects:

Line 7 of Santiago metro. Civil works (Chile, US$158mn, awarded last half)
Wastewater drainage for Alderetes and Tucumán (Argentina, US$17mn, in construction)

FCC

The group’s portfolio jumped 25.8% between the end of December and the end of June, reaching 38bn euros, thanks to increases in the water and construction areas.

While the firm did not specify how much of this corresponds to Latin America, it did state that the region together with the US accounted for 9.1% of its first half revenue at 325mn euros.

FCC’s presence in Latin America includes: 

Maya train. Stretch 2 (Mexico, US$722mn, in construction)
Line 2 of Lima metro (Peru, US$4.5bn, in construction)
El Salitre wastewater treatment plant (Colombia, US$354mn, in construction)