Low risk markets pay big for Webuild

Italian infrastructure contractor Webuild has, during this year alone, secured new project orders worth approximately €13.1 billion (US$13.6 billion).

Webuild recently secured the contract to build a new breakwater will at the Port of Genoa in Italy, that will enable the port to receive 450m-long container ships (Photo: Webuild)

Described by the company as “a sign of its commercial strength”, the figure equates to over 30 individual projects and includes projects for which the contractor has been named the preferred bidder, and those which contracts are still being finalised. 

“Approximately 90% of them are outside Italy, mostly in low-risk markets such as Australia at 34%, Europe at 28% and North America at 14%,” said Webuild, adding that over €6 billion (US$6.3 billion) of the total sum comes from rail projects.

These include a new rapid transit line that will cross downtown Toronto in Canada, the Stations, Systems, Trains, Operations and Maintenance Package of the Sydney Metro - Western Sydney Airport Project in Australia, and the country’s Gowrie-Kagaru section of the 1,700-kilometre Inland Rail.

Among the major European projects awarded to the company as part of a consortium, are the road network between Bergen and the island of Sotra in Norway – consisting of a suspension bridge 30-metre wide and 900-metre long, the A303 road in the UK which will serve to safeguard the UNESCO world heritage site of Stonehenge, and a €928 million project to construct a new breakwater (a barrier built in the sea to protect a coast) at the Port of Genoa in Northern Italy.

Earlier in July of this year Webuild, which said its new projects were both “iconic and complex”, reported sales of €3.9 billion (US$3.98 billion) and an order backlog of €47 billion (US$48 billion).

Its 2022 half year revenue figures was also up 24% on the same period last year, with over 70% of its sales coming from outside of its home market of Italy. 

The significant increase in its project order book is being attributed to the global rise in government infrastructure spending, which was initiated to help economies recover from the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.