Geographic and business diversification is having a significant impact on the group's bottom line. So far this year, international revenues accounted for 43.8% of the total, compared with 43.1% in 2009. Moreover, the international business proved to be more dynamic than the domestic business in 2010, having expanded its backlog by 18.6%.

The largest single new contract this year is for the construction and management of the D1 motorway in Slovakia. In the first quarter of 2010, a 50:50 joint venture of FCC and subsidiary Alpine obtained the 1.990 billion euro contract to build and manage the road. The project, which involves building 10.6 km of tunnels and 7.6 km of bridges, is part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) and is the country's primary transverse highway, connecting it with Austria and Eastern Europe. Financing is expected to be completed in the coming months.

has become a market with great potential due to its economic development programme, which focuses on infrastructure, energy and desalination. Early in May, FCC, in a joint venture with Algerian company ETRHB Haddad, was awarded a contract to design and build a 185-km railway line running west of the capital city, Algiers, and connecting the towns of Relizane, Tiaret and Tissemesilt. The project has a budget of 935.5 million euro and a construction deadline of 54 months.

The contract, awarded by the Transport Ministry via ANESRIF (National Agency of Studies and of Follow-up of the Realization of the  Railway Investment), is part of the 2009-2014 economic development programme promoted by Algeria's President, Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The programme has a budget of 114 billion euro, a large part of which is aimed at infrastructure construction.

FCC, which specialises in citizen services, is already operating in Algeria through water management subsidiary Aqualia, which has been awarded two major contracts by the state-owned Algerian Energy Company (AEC) to build and manage two macro seawater desalination plants at Mostaganem and Cap Djinet. Together they represent revenues of more than 1.1 billion euro, and are managed via a 50:50 joint venture with Inima, an OHL subsidiary.

FCC had previously obtained a 359 million euro contract to build a sports complex in the Algerian city of Tizi Ouzou. The project includes the construction of a football stadium with 50,000 seats in roofed grandstands and an athletics stadium with capacity for 6,500 people.

Aqualia in Portugal and Egypt

Aqualia is also making a major contribution. 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.

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

Olympics and UEFA EURO 2012 in Poland

FCC's international expansion is also benefiting from the London 2012 Olympic Games. Olympic Broadcasting Services, the agency in charge of broadcasting the London Games, has awarded a 20 million euro contract to refurbish its London base and maintain it during the Gamesto a joint venture involving an FCC subsidiary. The installations will provide services to accredited press, radio and TV journalists at the Games.

Alpine, the subsidiary that operates in Central and Eastern Europe, continues to contribute to the Group's international expansion. Late in June, it added yet another Polish contract in addition to those obtained earlier in the year. The Salzburg-based construction company won a 245 million euro contract to build the S5 expressway in Poland under a joint venture consisting of Alpine, PBG S.A Posen and its subsidiaries Aprivia S.A and Hydrobudowa Polska S.A.

Alpine will head the consortium. The project consists of building a highway between Posen, which will host the inaugural match of the UEFA EURO 2012, and Wroclaw, including bypasses around the cities of Bojanowa and Rawicza. As part of the preparations for the UEFA EURO 2012 soccer championship in Poland, FCC is building stadiums in Krakow, Gdańsk, Posen and the National Stadium in Warsaw. These projects put FCC in the vanguard in the construction of large sports facilities worldwide.

It has also been awarded a 140 million euro contract to complete the section of the A1 toll road between Świerklany and Gorzyczki, in Poland. The section of the road measures 18.3 kilometres extending from the Świerklany junction to Gorzyczki on the southern border with the Czech Republic. The project includes building two junctions, two rest areas and 31 bridges. The largest single item is a 380-metre cable-stayed bridge.

In preparation for UEFA Euro 2008, FCC subsidiary Alpine remodelled and expanded the following stadiums: Wals-Siezenheim in Salzburg (30,000 seats), Tivoli in Innsbruck (31,600), and Wörthersee in Klagenfurt, which won a construction award from the state of Carinthia in Austria.

The citizen services company also has extensive experience building football stadiums in Spain. Among other projects, it has remodelled the Santiago Bernabéu and Vicente Calderón stadiums in Madrid, and the Nou Camp facilities in Barcelona; and it built the Sardinero Stadium for Santander, the Joan Gamper training ground, for Barcelona, the new training ground at Valdebebas for Real Madrid, and Español's new pitch at Cornellà. The Cornellà stadium as named Venue of the Year by the 2010 Stadium Business Awards.