The construction company Ferrovial has published its first results as a European company based in the Netherlands, in which it reveals a net attributable result of 114 million euros, more than double that of last year at this point, when it earned 52 million. The company led by Rafael del Pino increased its sales by 11.5% to 3,940 million euros due to higher sales in the Construction (+8.3%) and Toll Islands (38%) areas. It closed the first half of the year with an Ebitda of €401 million.
Ferrovial supports its result in the good performance of the business in North America, where the different concessions continue to improve their performance and that, compared to the first half of last year, the different restrictions related to the pandemic are not in force. This is the case of the Canadian highway 407 ETR, which improves its numbers by 21.9% year-on-year, also supported by the rehabilitation of the 401, which raised sales to 700 million Canadian dollars (482 million euros). The managed lines managed by the construction company have also improved their average revenues substantially.
The airport business continues to be aligned with the recovery of air traffic in anticipation of the summer boom. The British Heathrow airport still does not reach the traffic levels of 2019, but is placed 4.3% below after receiving 37.1 million passengers. June marked the best month since August 2019, after receiving 7 million, although it is still 3% below the same pre-pandemic month. AGS remains 25% below 2019 traffic, while Dalaman has already recovered it.
The construction business recorded a loss of 3 million euros compared to the 26 million earned in June 2022, due to the works necessary to complete large projects in the United States. The company reports that this effect has been “partially compensated” by its subsidiary Budimex, which places its operating margin at 6%. The total backlog of this area reached 14,857 million euros, in the absence of other projects awarded for 1,750 million.
Ferrovial highlights the “high” levels of liquidity, which reached 5,521 million euros, and the solid net position of ex-infrastructure cash, at 819 million. The net debt of infrastructure projects fell compared to December, to 7,140 million; while net debt reached 6,321 million.
The repurchase of the Hybrid Bond for €511 million produced a significant outflow, partially offset by dividends from infrastructure, which left €342 million, 216 of them from the first distribution of the NTE 35W road.
