The impact of the financial crisis presented challenges to businesses around the world afresh in 2009. But even in this climate, the HOCHTIEF Group proved its strengths yet again. We were able to raise our forecast for the order backlog during 2009. The actual figure reached EUR 35.59 billion. We attained or exceeded all other targets we had set for ourselves as announced. Consolidated net profit of EUR 195.2 million and profit before taxes of EUR 600.5 million both topped the prior-year figures by some margin (2008: EUR 156.7 million and EUR 496.9 million respectively, restated in accordance with IFRIC 15).
Thanks to recovery in the global economy and slow easing of the situation in the financial markets, HOCHTIEF stock regained some ground, especially in the second half of the year. It reached an annual peak of EUR 59.52 in October 2009. But even this value does not adequately reflect our successful business performance.
Throughout the Group, HOCHTIEF continued its positive development of the last few years in 2009, benefiting in particular from the advantages of our tightly knit portfolio: With services covering the life cycle of infrastructure projects, real estate and facilities, we offer our clients added value. The globally networked activities of our specialists ensure high levels of efficiency and quality—we underpinned this again internally and externally in the year under review with activities under the “One roof—all solutions” banner. It was especially clear in the difficult economic environment of 2009 that our clients appreciate our service portfolio with its major synergy opportunities as well as our partnership-based approach: New orders and contract renewals in all our divisions reflect trust in HOCHTIEF’s expertise. Our life cycle strategy has proven its long-term worth. Furthermore,
our clear focus on activities in high-growth markets, industries and regions has shown itself to be a success factor. We will retain this focus in the future and enter 2010 with optimism.
This confidence is also bolstered by our strong financial base. The crisis made clear just how much we are benefiting from always having planned and acted very conservatively in the past. Our financing is secured for the long term—as our extremely solid balance sheet also shows. We have the scope we need for all projects, in which we continue to be selective, investing as usual only in projects that meet our high return-on-investment targets.
2009 was another excellent year for our Group, with all six divisions racking up successes. At HOCHTIEF Americas, our US subsidiaries Turner und Flatiron received attractive orders, providing for a healthy order backlog. Turner was able to further consolidate its strong market position: The market leader for education and healthcare properties and sustainable construction was awarded high-quality contracts in these segments, including a series of school projects in New York worth more than EUR 170 million and a hospital for the University Medical Center at Princeton worth EUR 340 million. Flatiron secured several major contracts, including the largest project to date for the US company: In a joint venture, the Port Mann Bridge will be built over the Fraser River in Vancouver, Canada, in a project worth more than EUR 1.5 billion. Flatiron also benefited from the US stimulus program—for instance, with its participation in the EUR 41 million contract to extend Route 905 in San Diego, California. And last but not least, our US subsidiaries stepped up their cooperation, as planned: Together with a partner, the companies are expanding Terminal 2 of San Diego Airport.
The operational units of our subsidiary Leighton likewise won attractive new contracts, providing for a very high order backlog in the HOCHTIEF Asia Pacific division. As part of a consortium, Thiess is to finance, design and build a seawater desalination plant and subsequently operate it for a period of 30 years. The project is worth EUR 2.1 billion. In the raw materials segment, a number of satisfied clients renewed their contracts with