Finance & Funding

Manitou reports strong sales for 2015, with a growth in sales revenues of 3% to reach €1.287 billion. The firm’s EBITDA from recurring operations hit €91 million (7%), a notable gain over the €78 million recorded in 2014. The firm reports a current operating profit of €61 million (4.7%), a growth of 3.9% over the €48 million achieved in 2014. Net income grew to €32 million for 2015, compared to €30 million for 2014. The firm reported a net debt of €66 million, giving a gearing ratio of 13%.

Work on a major road project now looks set to commence shortly in Ethiopia. The US$221.7 million project will be carried out by a joint venture comprising Indian contractor IL&FS Transportation Networks (IL&FS) and its fully-owned Spanish arm Elsamex. The new highway is for an 84.56km route connecting Agamsa-Bure as well as an 86.1km stretch from Nekempte-Anger Gutin-Andhode. Financing for the work is being supplied by the World Bank and the work is expected to take eight years to complete. IL&FS won the pa

The €230 million N25 New Ross Bypass public-private partnership (PPP) project in County Wexford, Republic of Ireland has reached financial close. Mott MacDonald is technical advisor on the public-private partnership, awarded by the National Roads Authority, otherwise known as Transport Infrastructure Ireland. Work will be carried out by BAM Ireland and Dragados, a construction division of ACS Group, based in Spain. The scheme involves construction of 13.6km of dual carriageway and 1.2km of new or u

Ritchie Bros. started strong with its first Dubai auction of 2016, selling more than US$41 million of equipment and trucks on March 1-2. This was a 54% increase in gross auction proceeds compared to the March Dubai sale last year, the company said. Around $4.5 million worth of equipment went to on-line bidders. The Canadian company shifted more than 2,000 items for over 200 sellers during the two-day unreserved public auction. "People from 71 countries registered for the auction, with buyers from a

Around two-thirds of the Corridor 5c motorway project is expected to be completed by 2020, according to the director of the Bosnian motorways company JP Autoceste. Jasmin Buco said that 120km out of 337km of the motorway are complete. The corridor section, to connect Budapest with Ploce port in Croatia, is taking the most time. He said that the cost of the remaining part of the motorway is expected to be around €2.81 billion.

A series of tenders for major road projects is planned in Paraguay during 2016. The country's Ministry of Public Works and Communications (MOPC) will launch tenders with a total value of US$2.27 billion. The Ministry of Public Works and Communications will prioritise works including construction of the first stretch of the Bioceanic corridor, La Costanera Sur road and the 147km-long export corridor. The plans call for projects worth some $1.8 billion to go to tender in the first half of 2016. These projects

A series of major road projects in Brazil now look set to be delayed. Key road widening projects works awarded between 2012 and 2013 may now take longer than the original five year deadline to complete. Six road concession projects were awarded in the period, totalling over 3,000km of roads to be extended or upgraded. The contracts require that at least 10% of the planned work must be complete before any tolls can be charged. This initial phase has been carried out, but later stages to expand the roads have

Astaldi, a global construction company based in Rome, has won a contract worth nearly €222 million for construction of Poland’s S7 dual carriageway between Naprawa and Skomielna Biala. The contract, awarded by the Polish General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA), includes construction of a 2km tunnel under the Lubon Maly massif, 38 bridges and viaducts and three motorway services. There will also be 25km of access roads and two junctions. The north-south S7, when completed, will ru

Kiribati is benefiting from major improvements to its road infrastructure. Funding for the road development programme has been provided jointly by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the Australian Government. The improved road network on South Tarawa will help boost safety and economic development. The road is a vital shared communal asset for 50,000 people, the entire population of South Tarawa, as it is the lone vehicular transport route on the atoll. The project is seeing the upgrade o