2017 annual results

7 February 2018 - 5:45 pm - Finances

· Revenue up 5.7% to €40.2 billion
    - Strong increase in passenger numbers at VINCI Airports (up 12.4%¹)
    - Good momentum in heavy-vehicle traffic at VINCI Autoroutes (up 4.3%)
    - Higher business levels and order intake in Contracting and at VINCI Immobilier

· Earnings growth
    - Operating income from ordinary activities (Ebit): €4.6 billion (up 10.4%)
    - Net income attributable to owners of the parent: €2.7 billion (up 15.2%².)

· Dividend proposed with respect to 2017: €2.45 per share (up 16.7%)

· 2018 outlook: Good prospects
    - All business lines expected to achieve like-for-like revenue growth
    - Further improvement in Contracting margins
    - Continuing increases in operating income and net income

Key figures

 

Xavier Huillard, VINCI’s Chairman and CEO, made the following comments:

“VINCI’s performance in 2017 was excellent.

“In Contracting, there was a return to growth for both revenue and order intake in France. That was accompanied by an improvement in operating margins in the sectors that had been most badly affected by the recession. The Group also carried out a number of acquisitions to develop its international presence, particularly at VINCI Energies.

“In Concessions, business remained buoyant. VINCI Autoroutes’ heavy-vehicle traffic rose back to levels last seen before the 2008 crisis. VINCI Airports continued to post rapid growth in passenger numbers at all airports. Three new airports will join its concessions portfolio in 2018: Salvador (Brazil), Kobe (Japan) and Belgrade (Serbia). VINCI Highways won new contracts in Germany and Russia. Lastly, the new South Europe Atlantic high-speed rail line connecting Tours and Bordeaux came into service on 2 July 2017. This exceptional piece of infrastructure illustrates VINCI’s ability to deliver major projects by using all of its expertise in synergy.

“In addition, VINCI took advantage of highly favourable borrowing terms and carried out a number of refinancing transactions, which significantly reduced the cost of its debt and extended its overall maturity.

“With our solid financial position, growing order books and promising operating environment in France and other major markets, VINCI can look forward to 2018 with optimism. All our business lines are likely to see revenue growth and the increase in operating margin in the Contracting business should continue. We therefore expect further earnings growth.”

VINCI’s Board of Directors, chaired by Xavier Huillard, met on 7 February 2018 to finalise the 2017 financial statements⁶, which will be submitted for approval at the Shareholders’ General Meeting on 17 April 2018.

Key financial data: Renewed revenue growth and sharp increase in earnings

VINCI’s performance in 2017 was outstanding, with strong growth in both recurring operating income (+10.2%) and net income (+15.2%⁷).

Consolidated revenue amounted to €40.2 billion, a 5.7% increase on 2016. Like-for-like⁸, revenue was up 4.4%. The 0.6% negative impact of currency movements was more than offset by a 1.9% boost from recent acquisitions.

Concessions revenue totalled €6.9 billion, up 10.3% on an actual basis or 5.9% like-for-like. VINCI Autoroutes’ revenue grew 3.2% to €5.3 billion, reflecting a 1.7% increase in traffic resulting mainly from strong momentum in heavy-vehicle traffic (up 4.3%). VINCI Airports’ revenue rose sharply (up 33.5%) to over €1.4 billion. That figure includes the full-year contributions of Aerodom (Dominican Republic) and Aéroports de Lyon. Like-for-like, VINCI Airports’ revenue rose 13.7%, driven by continuing strong growth in passenger numbers across all airports managed by the Group. Peruvian company Lamsac, integrated by VINCI Highways in December 2017, holds concessions for two sections of the Lima ring road (of which one is currently under construction). It contributed €85 million to VINCI Highways’ revenue in 2017.

Contracting revenue (VINCI Energies, Eurovia and VINCI Construction) was €32.8 billion, up 4.3%. On a like-for-like basis, the increase was 3.6%. After several years of falling revenue, particularly in France, the three Contracting business lines resumed organic growth in 2017: 2.8% at VINCI Energies, 7.0% at Eurovia and 2.2% at VINCI Construction. Recently acquired companies had a positive impact (1.5%), cancelling out the negative impact of exchange rate movements (0.7%) caused by the euro’s rise against most other currencies, particularly sterling.

The Group announced a number of acquisitions in the Contracting business in 2017. VINCI Energies carried out 34 acquisitions representing combined full-year business volume of around $1.6 billion. Since the largest of them – Infratek and Eitech in Sweden, Horlemann in Germany and PrimeLine Utility Services in the United States – were completed at the end of the year, they had only a limited impact on 2017 revenue.
In France, revenue was €23.7 billion, up 5.6% on an actual basis or 4.6% like-for-like, confirming the economic upturn in the Group’s main market.

Outside France, consolidated revenue was €16.6 billion, up 5.8% on an actual basis or 4.1% like-for-like. In 2017, 41% of total Group revenue came from outside France (47% in Contracting and 18% in Concessions).

Ebitda⁹ totalled €6.5 billion, up 9.0% with respect to 2016. Ebitda margin was 16.2%, up 50 basis points. That was the result of a positive mix effect, with the Concessions business growing at a faster rate than Contracting.

Operating income from ordinary activities (Ebit) amounted to €4.6 billion, up 10.4%. Ebit margin rose to 11.4% from 11.0% in 2016.

The contribution from Concessions rose 10.1% to €3.3 billion due to solid business volumes and a firm grip on operating expenses.

Contracting generated Ebit of €1.3 billion, an increase of 9.3% and equal to 3.8% of revenue (3.7% in 2017). VINCI Energies maintained an Ebit margin of 5.7%, while Eurovia’s increased to 3.7% from 3.2% in 2016. VINCI Construction became slightly more profitable, with an Ebit margin of 2.5% (2.4% in 2016), despite ongoing pressure in certain sectors, particularly those exposed to the oil industry.

Recurring operating income, including the impact of share-based payments (IFRS 2), the Group’s share of the income or losses of companies accounted for under the equity method and other recurring operating items, moved in line with Ebit. It rose 10.2% to €4.6 billion.
Operating income totalled €4.6 billion after taking into account non-recurring items (mainly restructuring charges and acquisition-related expenses).

Net income attributable to owners of the parent rose 15.2% relative to 2016. It amounted to €2,737 million excluding non-recurring tax effects¹⁰ (€2,747 million including non-recurring tax effects, an increase of 9.7%).

Free cash flow amounted to €2.5 billion. Excluding non-recurring tax effects, it was €2.7 billion, down €223 million from the 2016 figure of €2.9 billion.

Excluding non-recurring tax effects, free cash flow rose to €2.1 billion in Concessions (€2 billion in 2016) despite the €171 million increase in growth investments, resulting from works carried out by Lamsac on the second section of the Lima ring road in Peru. In Contracting, free cash flow fell to €0.4 billion in 2017 (€0.6 billion in 2016) because of higher operating investment and an increase in working capital requirement (WCR)¹¹ as a result of the upturn in business levels.

Financial investments during the year amounted to €1.3 billion on a net basis, including acquisitions in Contracting (€0.6 billion), equity and quasi-equity contributions to LISEA (the company holding the concession for the Tours–Bordeaux high-speed rail line) and the acquisition of the concession for Salvador airport in Brazil.

Dividends paid and share buy-backs carried out in 2017, net of capital increases, represented a total outflow of €1.5 billion (€1.2 billion in 2016).

As a result of those various cash flows, net financial debt was €14.0 billion at 31 December 2017, close to the end-2016 figure. At the end of 2017, the Group also had €10.8 billion of liquidity, consisting of €4.8 billion of managed net cash and €6 billion of confirmed bank credit facilities expiring in 2021.

The consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2017 are available on VINCI’s website: https://www.vinci.com/vinci.nsf/en/investors.htm

Operational performance: Traffic growth at VINCI Autoroutes and passenger growth at VINCI Airports; higher order intake in Contracting

VINCI Autoroutes’ traffic levels were up 1.5% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2017 (light vehicles up 0.9%, heavy vehicles up 5.4%), confirming the strong trend seen in previous quarters. Over 2017 as a whole, traffic rose 1.7% (+3.2% in 2016). Light-vehicle traffic was up 1.3%, but was held back by higher fuel prices. Despite 2017 containing two fewer business days than 2016, heavy-vehicle traffic rose 4.3% because of buoyant economic activity in France and other European countries. Heavy-vehicle traffic is now slightly higher than the previous peak seen in late 2007, before the financial crisis.

VINCI Airports had another year of rapid growth, with passenger numbers across all airports managed by the Group rising 12.4% to 148.9¹² million after a 10.0% increase in 2016. Passenger growth at Portuguese airports remained particularly strong at 16.5%. Passenger numbers broke new ground, rising to over 50 million in Portugal, 25 million in Lisbon, 20 million in Santiago (Chile) and 10 million in Lyon-Saint Exupéry and Porto. The strong growth momentum continued in the fourth quarter, with an 11.9% increase in passenger numbers.

In Contracting, order intake rose more than 8% year-on-year to €34.5 billion in 2017. It increased 11% in France and 5% outside France. Order intake rose almost 14% at VINCI Energies, 4% at Eurovia and 7% at VINCI Construction.

The order book amounted to €29.3 billion at 31 December 2017, up 7% compared with end-2016 and equal to almost 11 months of average business activity. It increased in all business lines. In France, the order book rose 13% to €15.5 billion; outside France, it was up 1.3% to €13.8 billion.

The French residential property market remained buoyant in 2017 and VINCI Immobilier’s business levels were very strong, with housing reservations rising 21% to 6,630. The Group’s share of new orders¹³ was more than €1.5 billion, up 38% compared with 2016. In commercial property, new orders included the contract to develop VINCI’s future head office in Nanterre.

2017 highlights

New developments in Concessions

VINCI Airports strengthened its position in airport retail with the acquisition of a 51% stake in Lojas Francas Portugal (LFP), which is operated jointly with Dufry Group, and added three new airports to its portfolio:

- In Brazil, after a tender procedure initiated by the country’s National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC), VINCI Airports was awarded the 30-year concession for Salvador airport. This airport handled almost 7.7 million passengers in 2017 (up 1.8% on 2016), and has been managed by VINCI Airports since 2 January 2018.

- In Japan, Kansai Airports – in which VINCI Airports and its Japanese partner Orix each own a 40% stake – signed a 42-year concession contract for the management of Kobe airport, starting on 1 April 2018. Operating this airport, which handles around 3 million passengers a year, will enable Kansai Airports to develop synergies with Kansai International Airport (KIX) and Osaka International Airport (ITM), which it already operates.

- In Serbia, VINCI Airports was recently named as the preferred bidder to run Nikola Tesla Airport in Belgrade. It expects to sign a 25-year contract in the first quarter of 2018, and financing enabling VINCI Airports to take over the running of the airport should be arranged by the end of the year. This airport handled 5.3 million passengers in 2017.

VINCI Highways brought into service two new sections of motorway in Greece (Corinth–Patras, 120 km, and Maliakos–Kleidi, 240 km) built by consortiums including VINCI Construction. These motorways will be operated until 2038 by two concession holders, namely Olympia Odos, in which VINCI Concessions has a 30% stake, and Aegean Motorway, in which it owns a 14% stake.

VINCI Highways also won two new projects:

- In Germany, it won a fourth public-private partnership (A-Modell) contract, worth €441 million, for the modernisation of the A7-2 motorway. The winning consortium – led by VINCI Concessions – will operate a 60 km section of motorway for 30 years. Widening works on a 29 km section will be carried out by a consortium led by Eurovia.

- In Russia, VINCI Highways won a 10-year contract to operate new sections of the motorway connecting Moscow and St Petersburg – covering a total of 359 km – via its UTS subsidiary, which is 50%-owned alongside a Russian partner. This contract makes VINCI Highways the sole operator of the 669 km of motorway between Moscow and St Petersburg. Several sections of that motorway are under construction and are scheduled to open to traffic in 2018.

On 2 July 2017, VINCI Railways opened the 302 km South Europe Atlantic high-speed rail line connecting Tours and Bordeaux, one month ahead of the original schedule. The new line has reduced the journey time between Paris and Bordeaux to 2 hours and 4 minutes.

 

Further acquisitions outside France in Contracting

VINCI Energies announced the acquisition of 34 companies in 2017, the largest of which were:

- Acuntia (consolidated since August 2017), a leading Spanish service provider in the information and communication technology sector, which generated revenue of €95 million in 2017.

- Horlemann, a German company specialising in engineering, construction and maintenance of electrical grids, as well as lighting operations and electrical grid automation processes. Horlemann has been consolidated since 1 December 2017 and its annual revenue is over €100 million.

- Infratek, which operates in Norway, Sweden and Finland in the fields of electrical grids, public lighting and railway systems, and generated revenue of more than €340 million in 2017.

- Eitech, one of Sweden’s leading specialists in electrical and engineering works for the manufacturing, infrastructure and construction sectors. In 2017, its revenue amounted to around €220 million.

The last two acquisitions above will make Scandinavia VINCI Energies’ third-largest market after France and Germany in 2018.

- PrimeLine Utility Services, a US group specialising in engineering, construction and maintenance of electricity transmission and distribution networks, as well as telecoms infrastructure. The acquisition of this company, which has annual revenue of around €470 million, should be completed in the first half of 2018. This transaction represents a major step forward in VINCI Energies’ expansion in North America.

Eurovia strengthened its presence in Germany by acquiring THG Baugesellschaft mbH, specialising in rail works, and TKP Krächan GmbH, specialising in concrete structure renovation. The two companies generated combined revenue of €26 million in 2017.

Eurovia also entered Latvia with the acquisition of Saldus Celinieks, a company specialising in roadworks, the extraction of aggregates and asphalt production. The company, which has been consolidated since 1 July 2017, generated 2017 revenue of €30 million.

In late October 2017, VINCI Construction acquired Australian company Seymour Whyte, which specialises in civil engineering, earthworks and utility networks. With revenue of around €285 million in the financial year ended 30 June 2017, Seymour Whyte strengthens VINCI Construction’s position in Oceania.

 

New contracts

While the upturn in business levels and order intake, particularly at VINCI Energies and Eurovia, was mainly driven by regular operations, the Group won a number of major new contracts in 2017. The largest of those included:

VINCI Energies

- In the space sector, business levels and the order book rose sharply after some significant contract wins worth a total of €70 million relating to the construction of a new launch site for Ariane 6 at the French Guiana Space Centre. VINCI Energies will work with partners to install facilities supplying both conventional and cryogenic fluids, along with low-voltage electricity and safety facilities.

- VINCI Energies won four works packages as part of the OMVG project to build Senegal’s power grid interconnection with Guinea, Guinea Bissau and Gambia, which covers a total distance of 1,677 km (1,000 km for VINCI Energies).

- In Brazil, VINCI Energies is carrying out major maintenance programmes for Petrobras worth €52 million over a 36-month period and involving the scheduled shutdown of two oil platforms (a P55 fixed platform and a P62 FPSO platform) for two weeks.

- Over the next four years, VINCI Energies will roll out “fibre to the home” (FTTH) in nine French départements (Aube, Ardèche, Drôme, Essonne, Jura, Haute Saône, Pyrénées Orientales, Saône et Loire and Seine Maritime). This will eventually bring superfast broadband services to almost 600,000 homes in rural areas.

Eurovia

- A consortium including ETF (Eurovia) and Mobility (VINCI Energies) was awarded a contract by SNCF Réseau to modernise 180 km of overhead contact lines on RER Line C between Paris and Brétigny. The total value of the contract, which also involves two external partners, is €277 million.

- Eurovia was selected by Highways England to carry out maintenance and improvement works on 1,695 km of roads and motorways in south-west England. The value of this 15-year contract is in excess of €270 million (£225 million).

- A consortium led by Eurovia was awarded a €297 million contract to build a new 8 km section of the D1 motorway in Slovakia.

VINCI Construction

- As part of the Grand Paris Express project, a consortium including VINCI Construction subsidiary Soletanche Bachy was selected to carry out civil engineering work on two sections of Line 15 South: the T2A section between Villejuif and Créteil (total amount: €807 million) and the T3A section between Boulogne and Issy les Moulineaux (total amount: €513 million). A consortium led by VINCI Construction was selected to build the T3C section of Line 15 South between Issy les Moulineaux and Villejuif as part of the same project, for a total amount of €926 million. This consortium also won the project’s T2D works package, worth €156 million, calling for the construction of Noisy Champs station on Line 15 South. Overall, the Group’s share of contracts won by VINCI Construction companies will boost revenue by €1.2 billion.

- VINCI Construction, via its VINCI Construction Grands Projets and Bessac (Soletanche Bachy) subsidiaries, won a €60 million contract to design and build a 10 km treated water transmission pipeline to improve the drinking water supply to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

- The Comol5 consortium, in which VINCI Construction Grands Projets owns a 25% stake, won a contract to build the first section of the RijnlandRoute in the Netherlands. The total contract value is €492 million.

- In the United Kingdom, the joint venture between VINCI Construction and Balfour Beatty won a design-build contract relating to civil engineering packages N1 and N2 on the London–Birmingham high-speed rail line. The contract is worth £80 million in the initial studies and site preparation phase, and over £2.5 billion in the works phase.

 

Refinancing

VINCI took advantage of ongoing favourable market conditions and its solid credit ratings (A3 from Moody’s and A- from S&P) to refinance several of its debts in 2017.

ASF carried out two bond issues:

- in January, a €1 billion, 10-year bond issue with an annual coupon of 1.25%;
- in April, a €500 million, nine-year bond issue with an annual coupon of 1.125%.

In January, Aerodom issued $317 million of 12-year amortising bonds as part of a Rule 144A placement, and arranged a seven-year $216 million bank loan.

In February, VINCI issued $450 million of five-year, non-dilutive, cash-settled convertible bonds with a coupon of 0.375%. In May and November, VINCI placed a further $125 million and $150 million of identical bonds respectively.

In October, Cofiroute issued €750 million of 10-year bonds with an annual coupon of 1.125%.

VINCI Autoroutes subsidiary Arcour issued €417 million of project bonds at a fixed rate of 2.817%, repayable over 30 years.

In January 2018, ASF carried out a €1 billion, 12-year bond issue with a coupon of 1.375%.

These transactions enabled the Group to continue reducing the cost of its debt and extend its average maturity.

2018 outlook: Good prospects

In 2018, VINCI expects further growth in consolidated revenue, as well as in overall operating income and net income.

- In Concessions, revenue will continue to rise at both VINCI Autoroutes and VINCI Airports. On VINCI Autoroutes’ networks, traffic growth should be similar to that seen in 2017 provided that fuel prices do not increase further. Passenger growth at VINCI Airports is likely to slow relative to 2017 because of a very high base for comparison.

- In Contracting, the upturn in revenue should continue across all business lines in 2018, both in France and internationally. Ebit margin should improve further in Contracting as a result.

Dividend

The Board of Directors has decided to propose a 2018 dividend of €2.45 per share, representing an increase of 16.7%, to the Shareholders’ General Meeting on 17 April 2017.

Since an interim dividend of €0.69 per share was paid in November 2017, the final dividend payment on 26 April 2018 (ex-date: 24 April 2018) will be €1.76 per share if approved.

Cancellation of treasury shares – Changes in the share capital

Following the decision taken by the Board of Directors on 15 December 2017, VINCI cancelled 5.7 million treasury shares.

At 31 December 2017, VINCI’s capital consisted of 591.2 million shares, including 36.3 million treasury shares (6.1% of the capital at that date).

 

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The slide presentation of the 2017 annual results will be available before the press conference on VINCI’s website: www.vinci.com.

 

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Download infographic (130 Kb)

 

 

APPENDIXES: see pdf version of press release

 

 

¹ Change on a pro forma basis including Kansai Airports, Aerodom and ADL for the full year in 2016 and excluding Salvador de Bahia airport in Brazil, which VINCI Airports has managed since 2 January 2018.
² Change excluding non-recurring tax effects: €129 million in 2016, €10 million in 2017.
³ Excluding concession subsidiaries’ revenue from works done by non-Group companies (see Glossary).
⁴ Excluding non-recurring tax effects: net outflow of €200 million in 2017.
⁵ Proposal with respect to 2017 to be made to the Shareholders’ General Meeting on 17 April 2018.
⁶ The consolidated financial statements have been audited and the Statutory Auditors' report is in the process of being published.
⁷ Excluding changes in non-recurring tax effects. Including non-recurring tax effects, net income attributable to owners of the parent in 2017 was €2,747 million or €4.91 per share, an increase of €242 million or 9.7% compared with 2016.
⁸ Like-for-like = at constant scope and exchange rates: impact of changes in scope neutralised by removing from the 2017 scope companies that joined the Group in 2017 and removing from the 2016 scope companies that left the Group in 2016 and 2017, while including the full-year figures of companies joining the Group in 2016. Currency effect neutralised by applying 2017 exchange rates to 2016 foreign currency revenue (see Glossary).
⁹ Ebitda: cash flow from operations before tax and financing costs (see Glossary).
¹⁰ Non-recurring tax effects resulted from the following: the exceptional surtax based on corporate income tax adopted in France's 2017 mini-budget, the annulment of the 3% dividend tax introduced in 2012 and the gradual decrease in the corporate income tax rate in France from 33.33% to 25% in 2022 under France's 2017 and 2018 Finance Acts. The latter measure, which had no impact on 2017 cash flow unlike the first two measures, led to a revaluation of the Group's deferred tax, with a positive impact on the 2016 and 2017 financial statements.
¹¹ Including the change in current provisions.
¹² Figures at 100%: change on a pro forma basis including Kansai Airports, Aerodom and Lyon-Saint Exupéry for the full year in 2016 and excluding Salvador airport in Brazil, which VINCI Airports has managed since 2 January 2018.
¹³ Based on completed sales, excluding implementation of IFRS 11, amount including the revenue contribution from joint development operations in order to reflect VINCI Immobilier's economic activity (see Glossary).

 

About VINCI
VINCI is a global player in concessions, energy and construction, employing 280,000 people in more than 120 countries. We design, finance, build and operate infrastructure and facilities that help improve daily life and mobility for all. Because we believe in all-round performance, we are committed to operating in an environmentally, socially responsible and ethical manner. And because our projects are in the public interest, we consider that reaching out to all our stakeholders and engaging in dialogue with them is essential in the conduct of our business activities. Based on that approach, VINCI’s ambition is to create long-term value for its customers, shareholders, employees, partners and society in general.