Aqualia, FCC's water management subsidiary, has been awarded a 25-year contract by the Jerez city government to provide the end-to-end water services in the city.

The contract, which is worth close to 900 million euro, includes additional investments of more than 1 million euro per year to optimise the networks and installations.

The contract includes managing 704 kilometres of sewage network and 870 kilometres of water supply pipeline by which 16.3 million cubic metres of drinking water are supplied each year. Jerez also has 7 drinking water reservoirs with a storage capacity of 34,300 cubic metres. Aqualia will bill directly to more than 470,000 customers.

Jerez has a wastewater treatment plant (Guadalete) and another 23 smaller treatment facilities throughout the municipality; until now, Aqualia had managed them under a sub-contract from the city-owned company Ajemsa. Once the contract is signed and the commencement date is set, Aqualia will directly manage water treatment and supply as well as the sewage system.

The company also obtained other contracts in the last few days worth more then 200 million euro: operation and maintenance of the La Reguera treatment plant in Madrid (4 years); management of the Aramo treatment plant in Oviedo (33 years); and the provision of water supply and treatment and sewage services in Candeleda, Ávila (30 years). Additionally, the Aigües de Girona PPP extended its cooperation agreement with Aqualia, which also owns a stake in the partnership; and the local governments in Bezana (Cantabria) and La Bañeza (León) have both extended Aqualia's contract by another 10 years.

As a result of its new contract, Aqualia will provide services to Jerez de la Frontera (population 212,454), strengthening its position as the leading water operator in Andalusia, where it serves 100 municipalities and 2.4 million people.

As a result of expanding, both in Spain and internationally, revenues increased by 2.5% in 2012, driven especially by double-digit growth overseas. Aqualia has also boosted efficiency, which increased operating profit by 6%, improved its competitiveness and raised the backlog to a historic 13.6 billion euro.

Aqualia, which uses cutting-edge technology, has over 7,000 employees working in 1,100 municipalities scattered over 17 countries: Spain, Italy, Portugal, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Montenegro, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Algeria, Egypt, UAE, Saudi Arabia and China.