Chinese Contractors Top Global Rankings Once Again

July 24, 2012
Total revenues for the top 200 contractors came in at US$ 1.48 trillion – a +13 percent increase from the previous year.

Last year saw record revenues and employment among the world's biggest construction companies, according to International Construction's Top 200 ranking, although profitability was poorer than in 2010.

Three Chinese contractors topped International Construction's (iC's) 2012 ranking of the world's 200 largest construction companies for the second year running. The league table, which is based on revenues in 2011, saw China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) overtake the country's two largest railway contractors to claim the top spot.

Two other Chinese contractors – China Communications Construction Group and China Metallurgical Group (MCC) were also ranked in the top 10. They were joined by Vinci, ACS, Bouygues and Hochtief from Europe, while Bechtel was the only US contractor in the top 10. The highest-placed Japanese construction company was Daiwa House at No. 12. 

Among the biggest climbers up the rankings were three companies involved in the petrochemical and oil & gas construction sector, including JGC and Petrofac. Heavy fallers meanwhile included US residential construction companies D R Horton and Pulte Group, as well as Spanish contractors Sacyr and Ferrovial. 

Total revenues for the top 200 contractors came in at US$ 1.48 trillion – a +13 percent increase from the previous year. However, profitability, as measured by the average operating margin of the group of companies, was down on the previous year by 0.1 percentage points to 4.60 percent. Total employment among the Top 200 was estimated at 4.75 million people – a +4.6 percent increase on the previous year's figure of 4.54 million employees. 

Chinese contractors once again took the largest share of total revenues, at 23.2 percent or US$ 344 billion. They were followed by Japanese (14.2 percent, US$ 211 billion) and US (12.1 percent, US$ 179 billion) companies. Almost a quarter of the companies in the Top 200 were form the developing world. This was a record number, and their total revenues – US$ 460 billion, or 31 percent of the total – was also a record in terms of the absolute amount and the share of the top 200. 

The report's author, Chris Sleight said, "The slowdown in Chinese construction activity has clearly had an impact on this year's rankings, but there was still growth for many of the country's largest contractors last year. At the same time, we have seen improvements for global contractors focussed on key areas such as energy and resources, and we have also seen a surge for companies in key emerging markets – most notably Brazil, and to a lesser extent, India." 

The top 20 companies in this year's Top 200 ranking:

Position

Company

Country

Last Year

Change

1

China State Construction & Engineering Corp.

China

3

2

2

China Railway Construction Corporation

China

2

-

3

China Railway Group

China

1

-2

4

Vinci

France

4

-

5

China Communications Construction

China

5

-

6

ACS

Spain

10

4

7

China Metallurgical Group (MCC)

China

9

2

8

Bouygues' Construction Divisions

France

6

-2

9

Bechtel

US

7

-2

10

Hochtief

Germany

8

-2

11

Fluor

US

11

-

12

Daiwa House

Japan

12

-

13

Leighton Holdings

Australia

25

12

14

Eiffage

France

13

-1

15

Sekisui House

Japan

15

-

16

Strabag

Austria

16

-

17

Skanska

Sweden

14

-3

18

Kajima Corporation

Japan

19

1

19

Sinohydro

China

28

9

20

Saipem

Italy

21

1

The iC Top 200 league table is available to buy from KHL's information store,
www.khl.com/information-store, either as a report on single years, or as a five-year multiannual study.

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Management

KHL Group

July 24, 2012