In 2009, FCC's net attributable income amounted to 307.2 million euro, down 8% with respect to 2008; the company also shrank debt with recourse by 10%, strengthened its international footprint and expanded its backlog by 5.6%.

FCC improved steadily in 2009: it obtained net profit of 95.6 million euro in the first half of the year and 211.6 million euro in the second half, i.e. an increase of 121%. 

Revenues

Revenues totalled 12,669.6 million euro, down 6.7% with respect to 2008, due primarily to a 10.2% decline in revenues in Spain resulting from the slowdown in infrastructure activity.

The international business, which accounted for 44.3% of the group's total revenues, performed in line with last year, falling just 2.1% as a result of the 10.3% depreciation of the pound sterling against the euro, which impacted the International Environmental area. International revenues would have remained almost stable (-0.6%) at constant exchange rates.

*The stake in Realia has been equity accounted since 1 January 2009. For comparison purposes, this note presents a pro-forma income statement for 2008 in which Realia is equity-accounted.

The Renewable Energy business came into operation at the end of 2008 and has been classified as a separate division since 1Q09.

The backlog of works and services amounted to 34,547.5 million euro at 2009 year-end, 5.6% more than at 2008 year-end.

Infrastructure

International infrastructure projects performed well: revenues remained practically stable (-0.5%) with respect to the previous year.

Activity outside Spain accounted for 53% of this area's total revenues, the bulk of which were concentrated in Europe (92%) through locally-based subsidiaries. Specifically, Austria accounted for 42% of international revenues, Germany for 17% and Eastern Europe for 25%.

Revenues in Spain declined by 13.4% due mainly to adapting the pace of work on public works projects to clients' financial capacity.

Civil engineering, which is more complex and has greater added value, gained in importance in 2009, accounting for 69% of revenues and 76% of the total backlog.

This area saw sharp growth (especially in international markets), and the total backlog expanded by 6.9% to 10.856 billion euro, enhancing future revenue visibility.

Environmental Services

Revenues shrank slightly (by 1%), due primarily to a 5.5% reduction in international revenues, attributable to the adverse currency effect and a 17.7% decline in the Industrial Waste division.

The Environmental unit in Spain, which accounts for 41% of the area's total revenues and focuses primarily on municipal services and waste management contracts, reported a 3.4% increase.

The international Environmental unit accounts for 28% of the area's revenues; activities include municipal waste treatment in the UK and Central and Eastern Europe. Revenues from this activity in the UK declined 5.5% as a result of the depreciation of the pound sterling against the euro. At a constant exchange rate, revenues would have increased by 1.7%.

The Water unit, which accounts for 24% of area revenues and focuses on end-to-end water management contracts and water infrastructure development, experienced 3.1% growth in revenues in the year.

Industrial Waste management, which accounts for 7% of this area's revenues, saw a 17.7% contraction in revenues due to the impact of lower volumes and lower average prices of commodities (oil, paper and metal).

In 2009, international revenues accounted for 35% of the area's total. The main markets outside Spain are: the UK (53% of the total: municipal waste management), the Czech Republic (16%: municipal waste and end-to-end water management), Austria (8%: municipal waste management), and the US (7%: industrial waste management).

Environmental Services saw an upswing in new contracts during the year, expanding the backlog by 5.1% compared with December 2008 to 23.691 billion euro, i.e. almost 6.6 times 2009 revenues.

Versia

Revenues at Versia (non-environmental services) declined 8.6% in 2009 due to the impact of the economic slowdown on demand for Urban Furniture, Logistics and Handling services.

International revenues accounted for 32% of the total, comprising mainly Handling (where they accounted for 72% of the total) and Urban Furniture (54%).

Cement

Revenues in the Cement area fell by 27.3% in 2009 to 1,035.4 million euro, due primarily to the decline in domestic cement consumption. This is the result of the severe adjustment in residential construction in Spain that started in early 2007.

International revenues, which account for 29% of the total, fell 13.2% as a result of the sharp decline in cement consumption in the US (revenues -30%) and of the depreciation of the pound sterling. This performance was partially offset by a notable increase in exports to third countries and a slight improvement in revenues in Tunisia (2%).

Despite the slowdown, the EBITDA margin declined just 1.4 percentage points to 27.9%, due largely to lower energy costs, cost savings and optimisation of production capacity in the face lower demand.

The 2009-2011 cost saving plan is proceeding apace. Recurring savings amounting to 71 million euro have been attained, compared with the annual target of 65 million euro.

Cementos Portland Valderrivas' net interest-bearing debt was reduced by 19.5% to 1,419.3 million euro.

Renewable energy

The Energy division has no comparable figures for 2008 because it came into being as a separate business unit in 2009 following the acquisition of wind assets arranged in the second half of 2008 and completed in January 2009.

Revenues totalled 81.9 million euro, of which 67.1 million euro (82%) were from wind power (installed capacity: 422 MW) and the remainder from solar photovoltaic (20 MW).

Torre Picasso

Torre Picasso's revenues were practically the same as in 2008 due to maintaining the occupancy rate (close to 100%) and average prices.

Consolidated results

EBITDA totalled 1,460.6 million euro and the EBITDA margin was 11.5%, just 0.5 points lower than in 2008.

Net financial expenses amounted to 281.1 million euro, 23% less than in 2008 as a result of lower interest rates and effective financial management by the Group.

In 2009, FCC maintained its policy of strictly controlling costs not directly related to production, which were reduced by 114.5 million euro.

Net attributable profit totalled 307.2 million euro, 8% less than in 2008, mainly as a result of the economic slowdown and the negative contribution by equity-accounted affiliates.

Nevertheless, attributable income increased steadily as the year advanced.

At the end of 2009, net interest-bearing debt amounted to 7,655.2 million euro, having increased by 762.1 million euro with respect to December 2008. This increase was due entirely to growth investments in group business units and companies during year, for a net amount of 981.4 million euro. One notable acquisition was the Olivento group, acquired by the renewable energy division for 785 million euro.

Environmental Services and Energy account for 72.6% of net debt, tied to stable, long-term regulated public service contracts. Cement, a business which accounts for a large proportion of fixed assets on the balance sheet and which is strongly cash-generative, accounts for 18.5% of total net debt.

Despite investments totalling 1,601.1 million euro in 2009, net debt with recourse declined by 10.3% to 4,773.4 million euro.

Corporate policies

The group had 92,324 employees at the end of 2009. Their skill and experience are the levers that enable the group's international development: it is present in 54 countries, although its international business is concentrated mainly in the United Kingdom, Austria, Germany and the USA.

In its bid for eco-efficiency, the group is advancing towards a leading position in terms of sustainability within the areas in which it operates. In 2009, FCC was chosen to form part of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, FTSE4Good and FTSEIbex. It gained in position and score within all those indices.

In the area of social responsibility, equality plans were signed with the leading labour unions by Cementos Portland Valderrivas, FCC Medio Ambiente, FCC Construcción, EYSA and Aqualia, which complement the plans already in place in other areas of the group.