First half results do not include the sale of FCC car parks to Mutual Madrileña for 120 million euro or the divestment by Globalvía (owned 50:50 with Caja Madrid) of its stake in Autovía del Camino. Both transactions are part of the company's strategy of asset rotation, which also has a positive impact on debt reduction.

The geographic and business diversity of the group, which is controlled by Esther Koplowitz, has continued to bear fruit in the first half of 2010. International revenues accounted for 43.8% of the total (43.1% in December 2009). Revenues from the international market declined by 3.6%, compared with the Spanish market, which fell 6.1%, due in part to the impact of the harsh winter weather.

The backlog in the first half of the year performed well, exceeding 36.713 billion euro at mid-year, up 6% compared with June 2009. The international backlog increased by a notable 18.6% in the last six months.

Revenues amounted to 5.716 billion euro, i.e. 295 million euro (4.9%) less than the June 2009 figure (6.011 billion euro). However, the quarterly performance reflects a gradual improvement. Specifically, revenues declined by 7.2% in the first quarter and by just 2.9% in the second quarter.

The company continues efforts to reduce operating costs, which fell by 291 million euro in the first half, practically in line with the decline in revenues. Many costs have become variable and therefore fluctuate in accordance with business needs.

In the first half of 2010, group EBITDA totalled 666 million euro, down 2.8% with respect to June 2009; however, EBITDA in the period improved with respect to 2009 as a whole, when it declined by 14.9%. The increase in profitability is reflected in the EBITDA margin, which was 11.7%, i.e. 3 percentage points higher than in the first half of 2009.   

FCC's capex amounted to 290 million euro in the first half of 2010, 61% less than in the same period last year, when the company completed the acquisition of the wind farms that are now the core of its Energy division.
At 30 June 2010, net financial debt totalled 8.572,4 million euro, on par with the 8,349.9 million euro reported at the end of June 2009. Working capital experiences seasonal fluctuations, particularly in the Construction division, rising in the first half of the year and then declining, in line with the projected faster pace of project execution.
Moreover, the year-on-year increase is attributable to the fact that the supplementary dividend was paid in June this year (July last year) and to the foreign exchange effect on the Group's borrowings. The group maintains its goal of containing debt on par with last year's levels.

Growth in services and energy
The Environmental, Municipal Services and Energy divisions consolidated their growth, in line with the trend in the first quarter, while Construction and Cement attenuated the decline caused by reduced activity, which includes the effects of adverse weather conditions experienced in the first quarter in the main areas where the company operates (Central Europe and Spain for Construction, plus USA for the Cement division).

Good performance in Services (+4.1%), Versia (+1.8%), and Energy (+13.9%) helped cushion the declines in Infrastructure and Cement. Revenues in the Construction division improved in the second quarter and partly offset the impact of particularly adverse weather during the winter; revenue was down 8.0% in the first half of the year, contrasting with an 11.8% decline in the first quarter. Activities outside Spain now account for more than half (52%) of the Construction division's revenue, arising primarily in Europe (90%) through local subsidiaries.

Second quarter milestones
Important events in the first half of the year include the increase in railway project contracts (by more than 1.600 billion euro), the expansion of Aqualia's backlog, and the sale of the car park division to Mutua Madrileña.
Increase in railway projects
FCC Group has obtained major railway project contracts amounting to more than 1.600 billion euro. In May, a consortium led by FCC was awarded the contract to build a high-performance railway line in northern Algeria, valued at 935 million euro. The execution period is 54 months. Alpine, FCC's main construction company in Central Europe, obtained a contract in February to build a city railway tunnel in Karlsruhe (Germany) for 310 million euro. 

The group also obtained a number of civil engineering projects in Spain, including the Bergara-Antzuola section of the new railway network in the Basque Country, valued at more than 106 million euro, and construction of railway station accesses in Sagrera, Barcelona, valued at 223 million euro.
Aqualia contracts
Aqualia, FCC's end-to-end water management subsidiary, obtained new contracts in Spain, notably in Castilla y León and Castilla-La Mancha, providing a backlog in excess of 127 million euro. In February, the company closed financing for its first public-private partnership in Egypt for the design, construction and management (during 20 years) of a wastewater treatment plant in Cairo, representing 360 million euro in revenues.

Aqualia also clinched a new contract to manage water supply and sewage in the central Portuguese city of Fundao. The 30-year contract will provide a backlog of over 190 million euro. Including the contracts obtained in Portugal in the first quarter, that figure amounts to almost 470 million euro.