Grupo Ferrovial obtained 3,277 million pesetas in net profits in the 1st quarter, 98.7% more than in 1998.
Grupo Ferrovial has obtained a net profit, attributed to the main company, of 3,277 million pesetas in the first quarter of 1999, an increase of 98.7% with respect to the 1,650 million pesetas of March 98. The pre-tax profit, as of 31st March 1999, totalled 3,999 million, compared with 2,228 million in March of 98, 79.5% more.
In the first quarter of this year, the net amount for the consolidated sales figure of Grupo Ferrovial was 92,100 million, 22% more than the 75,575 million recorded in March of last year.
All of the areas of the Groups business showed significant increases in their sales figures. Construction with 81,710 million pesetas, increased 15.5% over the figure from March 1998, mainly in domestic activity and driven by last years large increase in the portfolio. As of 31st March 1999, the construction project portfolio had reached 628,000 million pesetas, an increase of 24.8% with respect to March of 98.
The figure for committed sales, in the real estate area, as of 31st March 1999, had surpassed 22,000 million pesetas and was 107% higher than in the same period in 1999.
In the Infrastructure promotion area, done through Cintra, an increase of 289% was achieved in the sales figures as of 31st March, due to the changes in the consolidation perimeter, both in highways and in parking lots, which allowed the inclusion in the overall consolidation of the highway concession companies of which the Group holds more than 50%. These figures do not include the recent award of the Toronto Highway, whose overall investment is 410,000 million pesetas.
As of 31st March, sales had increased, In the services area, by 33% to 3,255 million pesetas, due to the size of the concessions awarded, among them, that of Huelva, which supposes an annual sales revenue of 1,000 million pesetas. The portfolio of services to be implemented in this area was more than 100,000 million pesetas in March 1999, an increase of 42.8%.
Among the contracts awarded to Ferrovial in the first three months of this year, the most important are the M-45 highway, between the ODonnell Axis, the section of highway between Sahagún and San Mamés en León, and the section of the M100 in Daganzo and the M-206 in Ajalvir, for 2,500 million pesetas.
Abroad, contracts have been awarded for construction in the Dominican Republic, Colombia the Torca hydraulic system, for 1,500 million pesetas and Portugal an office building for 1,000 million pesetas. In the service area, the most important concession contracts are with the Almanzora-Levante Consortium in Almería, for 13,000 million pesetas; the cleaning and Mercamadrid, for 1,300 million, and the expansion of concession of highway collection and cleaning contracts in Corunna.
