The French construction and motorway concessions giant Eiffage passed the billion-euro mark in net profit in 2023 and at the end of December posted an order book for works up 40% compared to the end of 2022. Last year , Eiffage earned a net profit of 1.013 billion euros compared to 896 million in 2022 (13.1%), for a turnover up 7.4% to 21.8 billion euros, indicates the group in a press release released Wednesday.
The infrastructure branch, the group’s largest activity, saw its turnover increase by 9.5% to 7.9 billion euros, and the “energy systems” branch, in second place, increased its turnover. by 11.6%, to 5.9 billion euros. But the activity of the construction branch, third in the group, fell by 2.3% over the year to 4.26 billion euros, the press release indicates.
The decline is particularly notable in France, where the construction division’s turnover fell by 4.5% while it increased by 5% in Europe outside France. “The fall in new housing in France is partially offset by residential and tertiary renovation, the construction of public facilities and industrial investment,” comments the group in its press release.
Real estate turnover fell by 24.8% to 0.82 billion euros. 1,941 accommodation reservations were recorded compared to 2,481 in 2022, he specifies. The APRR and AREA motorways managed by Eiffage saw road traffic for all vehicles increase by 2.5% last year. The turnover of motorway concessions stood at 3.65 billion euros in total, up 9.2% (including for the first time the Aliaé motorway (A79) in Allier). Traffic on the Millau viaduct, also managed under concession by Eiffage, increased by 0.3% in 2023. Last year, the group purchased 49% of the capital of this viaduct of which it is now the sole shareholder. .
In total, the order book for works reaches 26 billion euros, an increase of 7.5 billion over one year or 40% with “unprecedented visibility in the medium and long term”. That of construction amounted to 5.1 billion euros at the end of 2023, up 3%. Eiffage specifies that it is currently only “very partially” integrating the multi-year activity which will be generated by the large Nové contract signed with the Ministry of the Armed Forces to renovate its real estate portfolio.
The order book for the infrastructure branch amounts to 14.4 billion euros, an increase of 6.2 billion, driven by the award of the civil engineering contract for the first two EPR2 nuclear reactors which are to be commissioned by EDF in Penly in Seine-Maritime, and line 15 East of the Grand Paris Express program, “most of the work on which will take place beyond 2025”, specified Eiffage. The order book for the “energy systems” branch amounts to 6.5 billion euros, up 21% year-on-year.
For 2024, the group anticipates a net profit group share “which could be of the same order as in 2023” and forecasts an increase in current operating income in works with a “further increase in the operating margin of Eiffage Energie Systèmes” . In the concessions “the new tax on long-distance transport infrastructure” recently announced by the government “will significantly impact the results” warns the group which, like its competitor Vinci, reiterates its desire to “implement all avenues of appeal in order to assert their rights, particularly regarding compliance with the contract.
Eiffage intends to propose at its general meeting a dividend of 4.10 euros per share compared to 3.60 euros in 2023, which will be paid on May 22.
