Vinci, ACS, Bouygues, Hochtief, Eiffage, Ferrovial, Acciona, Goldbeck, BESIX, CFE: 10 major European construction groups analysed across 5 angles: financial, operational, stock market, ESG and footprint in the 4 countries covered by Nexelys (France, Germany, Spain, Belgium). Public data, FY2025 annual results.
Slowly recovering credit in Europe, record American orders, the data-centre rush, carbon requirements: four forces redrawing the hierarchy of construction majors. Before the detailed comparison, let us frame the stakes.
In Europe, the building recovery remains gradual and uneven across countries. The ECB's easing cycle started in 2024 has revived mortgage lending and building permits are picking up in several markets, but new construction remains below its pre-2022 level in most countries. As a result, majors that rely solely on their domestic European market post modest growth, while those that diversified (geographically or into energy and concessions) delivered record 2025 results.
North America has become the primary growth engine of Europe's majors. ACS generates roughly 61 to 63% of its revenue in North America, driven by its US subsidiary Turner (sales +34% in 2025); Hochtief, its German subsidiary, devotes most of its order book to it; Ferrovial draws its valuation from its Texan and Canadian highways. On the French side, Vinci is pushing Cobra IS (+13%) and its international order book, and Eiffage posted +16.6% in Europe outside France. The split is clear: growth happens abroad, the base remains European.
Data centres are the sector's new battleground. At Hochtief, digital infrastructure already accounts for €16.8B of backlog, 21% of the total. At ACS, digital-related orders nearly tripled in one year, including a data-centre project of roughly $6B in Pennsylvania. This investment wave, on top of infrastructure and defence programmes, explains why the majors' order books are hitting record highs even as European residential construction remains convalescent.
Integrated concession-builder, globalised contractor looking to America, conglomerate in reorganisation, renewables champion, prefabrication industrialist, Belgian giant looking to the Gulf, refocused Brussels pure player: the panel covers the full range of European construction models, across the 4 countries tracked by Nexelys.
Nexelys tracks the construction cycle in 4 countries: France, Germany, Spain and Belgium. For each major, here is its actual operational footprint in these 4 markets, with the entity carrying it. Footprint is taken at group level: building, roads, energy and services.
| Group | 🇫🇷 France | 🇩🇪 Germany | 🇪🇸 Spain | 🇧🇪 Belgium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vinci | Home marketVinci Construction, Vinci Energies, concessions (motorways, airports) | Yes · 2nd market~€5.6B 2024 revenue: Vinci Energies Germany (~€3.4B, 16,600 staff), Eurovia GmbH, Cobra IS | YesCobra IS (~€3.2B 2025 revenue), acquired from ACS in 2021 | YesVinci Energies Belgium (~€766M, ~2,900 staff, 15 brands incl. Cegelec, Actemium) |
| ACS | MarginalOne-off Dragados projects (cross-border); no confirmed permanent subsidiary | Yes · via HochtiefHochtief, ~77.5% owned (Stuttgart 21, data centres, infrastructure) | Home marketDragados (construction), Clece (services) | MarginalIndirect via Dornan (Turner/Hochtief group, Mons site, data centres) |
| Bouygues | Home marketBouygues Construction, Colas, Equans France, Bouygues Immobilier | YesEquans (Kraftanlagen Gruppe); Colas (2026 buyout of Frauenrath's road business, Colas Rail) | MarginalEquans present (e.g. Pierre Guérin Iberica) but not a core market | YesEquans Belgium (ex-Fabricom), leading position; Colas Belgium |
| Hochtief | MarginalNo confirmed direct construction subsidiary; exposure via ~20% of Abertis (concessions) | Home marketStuttgart 21 (Bad Cannstatt tunnel), data centres, infrastructure | IndirectParent ACS based in Madrid; no Hochtief brand on Spanish sites | MarginalVia Dornan (data centres, Mons site opened 2024) |
| Eiffage | Home marketBuilding, roads, Energy Systems, metal, concessions (APRR) | Yes~5,400 staff, 40+ sites: Eiffage Énergie Systèmes (Elomech, Schwarz, Grantz, Nat) | Yes · since 1979Eiffage Energía (5,600 staff), Eiffage Infraestructuras (asphalt, 25 plants), Eiffage Metal | YesEiffage Benelux, ~15 subsidiaries (Valens, Smulders, etc.) |
| Ferrovial | Project-basedGrand Paris metro line 16 contract (~€438M); no large permanent subsidiary | MarginalVia Budimex (Poland), ~3.7% of its revenue in Germany; no significant direct presence | Home marketFerrovial Construcción (ex-Agroman); HQ moved to the Netherlands in 2023 | Not confirmedNo confirmed operational activity |
| Acciona | Marginal · energyEnergy-efficiency services (Eqinov, acquired 2022); shareholder of Eolink (floating wind) | Marginal · energyRenewables projects and services; Nordex (turbines) is based in Hamburg; no confirmed ongoing heavy construction | Home marketAcciona Construcción, Acciona Energía, real estate | Not confirmedNo confirmed office or project |
| Goldbeck | Yes · via GSEGSE (acquired 2019), turnkey commercial property contractor, 12 locations | Home marketHQ in Bielefeld, in-house prefab production, 90+ sites | Via GSECovered by GSE's southern scope; no standalone Goldbeck brand | YesOperates as a local contractor in Belgium |
| BESIX | YesBESIX France: Saint-Denis Pleyel station, Grand Paris Express (~€100M, delivered 2024) | Not confirmedNo confirmed German subsidiary or project | MarginalHistorical presence + BESIX RED (real estate); no confirmed ongoing construction | Home marketHQ in Brussels: Vanhout, Wust, Cobelba, Jacques Delens, BESIX Infra |
| CFE | Not confirmedNo confirmed operational activity (Vinci's equity stake is not a footprint) | EmergingCFE Bau, general contractor launched in 2021, still limited | Not confirmedNo confirmed activity | Home marketConstruction-renovation, multitechnics (VMA, MOBIX), real estate (BPI); BE·LU·PL core post-DEME demerger (2022) |
Only Vinci and Eiffage achieve the 4-country "grand slam". The two French groups combine a deep home market, powerful energy subsidiaries in Germany and Belgium, and a historical Spanish anchor (Cobra IS for Vinci, Eiffage Energía since 1979). It is a genuine strategic edge: their European growth does not depend on a single national cycle, exactly the logic Nexelys applies by tracking these 4 economies in parallel.
The Spanish groups look to America more than to Europe. ACS, Ferrovial and Acciona are surprisingly absent from France, Germany and Belgium outside their specialised subsidiaries: their expansion runs through the United States, Canada and Australia. A telling symbol: ACS sold Cobra (its European energy network) to Vinci in 2021 to fund its American pivot. North-Western Europe thus remains a Franco-German-Belgian playing field.
Mind the overlapping scopes. Cobra IS has belonged to Vinci since 2021 (no longer to ACS); Hochtief is consolidated in ACS's accounts; Equans carries most of Bouygues' Belgian and German footprint. To compare groups country by country, you must reason in operating entities, not historical brands: that is what this grid does.
Pure contracting yields 4 to 6% margins; concessions yield ten times more. The 2025 results hierarchy reflects first each group's business mix, and only then the economic cycle.
| Indicator | Vinci | ACS | Bouygues | Hochtief | Eiffage | Ferrovial | Acciona | Goldbeck* | BESIX* | CFE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue (€B) | 74.6 (+4%) | 49.8 (+19.7%) | 56.9 (group) | 38.2 (+14.8%) | 25.3 (+8%) | 9.6 (+8.6%) | 20.2 (+5%) | 6.3 (−1.6%) | 3.45 (+1.7%) | 1.04 (down) |
| Operating profitability | €9.56B · 12.7% | EBITDA €3.07B · ~6% | €2.66B · 4.7% | EBITDA €2.2B · 5.8% | €2.6B (concessions 43%) | Adj. EBITDA €1.46B | EBITDA €3.21B (+31%) | N/A (private) | Adj. EBITDA €150M · ~4.3% | EBIT €44.9M (+40%) |
| Net profit, group share (€M) | 4 900 | 950 | 1 138 | 902 | 1 020 | 888 | 803 (+90%) | N/A (private) | 42 (×2.3) | 33,5 |
| Order book (€B) | ~70 (74.9 at 31/03/2026) | 92.9 (+5.3%) | 32,0 | 72.5 (record) | 29.9 (contracting) | 17.4 (construction) | infra +6% (amount n/a) | 7.0 (intake, record) | 8.2 (+61%) | 1,63 |
| Headcount | ~285 000 | ~183 000 | ~97,000 (constr.) | 61 519 | ~78 000 | ~25 500 | ~68 500 | > 13,000 | ~12 000 | ~2 990 |
* Goldbeck: 2024/25 fiscal year (ended 31 March 2025); BESIX: 2024 fiscal year, latest public accounts. All others: FY2025. ACS consolidates Hochtief: do not add their lines.
Vinci plays in another profitability league. With a 12.7% operating margin and €4.9B net profit, Vinci earns almost as much as the other nine groups combined. The reason is one word: concessions. Motorways and airports turn a thin-margin trade into a cash-flow machine (€7B free cash flow in 2025, a record). Eiffage applies the same recipe at a smaller scale: its concessions (APRR first) deliver a 43% margin and fund the contracting business's growth.
ACS posts the panel's strongest growth, driven by Turner. +19.7% revenue in 2025: the American building subsidiary (sales +34%, pre-tax profit +62%) and the data-centre wave explain most of it. The €92.9B order book provides nearly two years of visibility. Hochtief, carrying that momentum on the German side, beat its own guidance with operational net profit up 26%.
The Belgians are the panel's positive surprises. BESIX more than doubled its net profit (€42M) and grew its order book +61% to €8.2B, a record driven by the Middle East. CFE, refocused since the DEME demerger, improved operating profit by 40% and swung to net cash. Two small but cleaned-up profiles, in a Belgian market Nexelys tracks alongside its three big neighbours.
Behind the €B revenue figures, order-book depth and operating model (concession holder, contractor, industrialist) drive resilience through the cycle.
The concession-builder (Vinci, Eiffage, Ferrovial). Contracting feeds the concessions, which secure revenue for decades. The contracting backlog represents about a year of activity (~11 months at Vinci, ~17 months on Eiffage's contracting scope), but the real cycle buffer lies elsewhere: in tolls and airport fees.
The globalised contractor (ACS, Hochtief, BESIX). Few or no concessions, but very deep order books: nearly two years of revenue at ACS and Hochtief, more than two years at BESIX. Unit profitability is thinner (4 to 6%), offset by volume and increasingly selective project choices (data centres, defence, public infrastructure).
The prefabrication industrialist (Goldbeck). Design, produce in factory, assemble on site: Goldbeck's "product" model makes it more an industrial company than a classic builder. The result: controlled costs and lead times that appeal to logistics and office clients, and record order intake (€7B) despite a difficult German market. It is also the model most exposed to the industrial cycle, which Nexelys tracks through German business climate surveys.
Eight listed groups, two unlisted ones, one Spanish-German cross-holding: capital structure tells as much as share prices. And one apparent anomaly: Ferrovial is worth more than ACS with one-fifth of the revenue.
| Indicator | Vinci | ACS | Bouygues | Hochtief | Eiffage | Ferrovial | Acciona | Goldbeck | BESIX | CFE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Market cap (€B, June 2026) | ~74 | ~32 | ~21 | ~36 | ~13 | ~41 | ~13,6 | private | private | listed, small cap |
| Listing venue | Euronext Paris (CAC 40) | BME Madrid (IBEX 35) | Euronext Paris (CAC 40) | Deutsche Börse (MDAX) | Euronext Paris (CAC 40 since late 2025) | Nasdaq + Euronext + BME | BME Madrid (IBEX 35) | n/a | n/a | Euronext Brussels |
| Reference shareholder | float + employee shareholding | Florentino Pérez (founder-chairman) + float | SCDM (Bouygues family) | ACS ~77.5% | float + employee shareholding | del Pino family | Entrecanales family | Goldbeck family (100%) | private Belgian capital | Ackermans & van Haaren ~62% |
| Announced dividend (per share) | see 2026 AGM | see 2026 AGM | €2.10 (+5%) | €6.60 (+26%) | €4.80 (vs €4.70) | dividends + buybacks (€501M) | €5.65 (+7.6%) | n/a | n/a | N/A |
Ferrovial is worth more than ACS with one-fifth of the revenue. ~€41B market cap versus ~€32B, on €9.6B of revenue versus 49.8. The explanation: the market values infrastructure assets (Canada's 407 ETR, Texan managed lanes, the JFK terminal) as very-long-term annuities, and contracting as a thin-margin trade. The lesson holds for the whole sector: one euro of toll is worth several euros of construction work.
Bouygues bears the conglomerate discount. ~€21B market cap on €56.9B of revenue: the market struggles to value the construction + Equans + telecoms + media assembly. The creation of the Construction Division in January 2026 and the spectacular deleveraging (net debt from €6.1B to €4.2B) are direct answers to that discount.
European construction capital remains very much family-held. The Bouygues, del Pino, Entrecanales and Goldbeck families, the Ackermans & van Haaren holding at CFE, Florentino Pérez at ACS: half the panel is controlled or strongly influenced by a long-term reference shareholder. A sector quirk that favours patient strategies (concessions, prefabrication) but can slow consolidation.
Construction weighs heavily in European emissions, through its worksites and its materials. CSRD, taxonomy and SBTi trajectories are gradually turning climate pledges into tender award criteria.
| Player | Stated climate target | Published results |
|---|---|---|
| Vinci | SBTi-validated trajectory: −40% scopes 1+2 by 2030 (vs 2018), −20% scope 3 (vs 2019) | Direct emissions −21% vs 2018 (as of 31/12/2024) |
| ACS | Net Zero 2045; scope 1 −35% by 2030, scope 2 −60% | 2025 target: 45% of infrastructure sales with sustainability certification |
| Bouygues | Absolute and intensity reduction, tracked annually | 19.5 Mt CO₂ at end-2025: −7% absolute, −8% intensity over the year |
| Hochtief | Net zero targeted in 2045 (all scopes) | Included in DJ Sustainability World and FTSE4Good indices |
| Eiffage | Low-carbon strategy detailed in its sustainability report | Not included in the 2025 results release |
| Ferrovial | Net Zero by 2050, 1.5°C-aligned, SBTi validation obtained in February 2025 | Scopes 1+2 −35.8% vs 2020; scope 3 −18.1% vs 2020 (at end-2024) |
| Acciona | Decarbonisation at the heart of the model (sustainability master plan) | 98.2% of 2025 CAPEX EU-taxonomy aligned (target > 90%), among the sector's highest |
| Goldbeck | Sustainability emphasised (prefabrication = less waste and transport) | No dated net-zero target published |
| BESIX | CSRD alignment in progress | CO₂ Performance Ladder level 5 maintained on European operations |
| CFE | Commitments detailed in the 2025 annual report | Not quantified in the results release |
Acciona made climate its business model, not a report chapter. 98.2% taxonomy-aligned CAPEX: the group invests almost exclusively in "green" assets in the European sense (renewables, water, sustainable infrastructure). That is the payoff of a positioning chosen fifteen years ago, when the group pivoted to renewables.
Vinci and Ferrovial have the most instrumented trajectories. SBTi validation, dated milestones, published interim results (−21% at Vinci vs 2018, −35.8% at Ferrovial vs 2020 on scopes 1+2): both groups treat carbon as a management metric, not communications. The unlisted players (Goldbeck, BESIX) publish less, though that does not mean they do less: Goldbeck's prefabrication is inherently frugal in waste and transport.
For each player: strengths, weaknesses, 2026 trajectory, and the key watch-out for a client, investor or partner.
Five dimensions, ten players, a cross-cutting read. Nexelys 1-to-5-star rating based on the analysed public data, including a dimension dedicated to the footprint in the 4 countries we track.
| Player | Financial strength | Size / scale | 4-country footprint | ESG strategy | Growth potential |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vinci | |||||
| ACS | |||||
| Bouygues | |||||
| Hochtief | |||||
| Eiffage | |||||
| Ferrovial | |||||
| Acciona | |||||
| Goldbeck | |||||
| BESIX | |||||
| CFE |
This benchmark draws on the listed groups' FY2025 results releases, published between 6 and 26 February 2026 (Vinci on 6 February; Hochtief on 19 February; ACS, Ferrovial, Acciona and CFE on 25-26 February; Bouygues and Eiffage on 26 February), supplemented by annual reports and publicly available investor presentations. For unlisted groups, the latest available public accounts are used and flagged: FY2024/25 for Goldbeck (ended 31 March 2025), FY2024 for BESIX (published May 2025).
Scopes are specified wherever they differ: ACS consolidates Hochtief (their figures must not be added); Bouygues is shown at group level with its Construction Division detailed (~€28B); Vinci's order book at 31 December 2025 is approximated from the official figure of €74.9B at 31 March 2026 (+7% since end-2025). Figures marked "~" are approximations from public communications; "N/A" flags unpublished data. Market capitalisations are June 2026 market values, fluctuating by nature. The country footprint grid draws on the groups' official sites and publications: entries flagged "not confirmed" could not be established from public sources as of publication.
This benchmark offers a snapshot of Europe's construction majors. To anticipate sector moves 3, 6 and 12 months ahead, Nexelys publishes a monthly Construction dashboard covering France, Germany, Spain and Belgium: