Investing.com -- Vinci (EPA:SGEF) shares jumped over 3% on Friday after the infrastructure giant posted stronger-than-expected full-year results on Thursday, driven by free cash flow and solid earnings across its concessions and contracting businesses.
The French construction and concessions firm reported a 6% rise in EBITDA to €12.7 billion, slightly ahead of analyst expectations.
Operating profit grew by 7.7% to €9 billion, around 2% higher than consensus estimates, with the beat primarily fueled by Vinci’s concessions segment.
Net income increased 3.4% year-on-year to €4.86 billion, exceeding analysts’ forecast of €4.67 billion.
The company proposed a dividend of €4.75 per share, a 5.6% increase from last year and higher than the €4.57 predicted by analysts.
However, the most significant beat came from Vinci ’s free cash flow (FCF), which soared to €6.8 billion—more than €2 billion above consensus expectations.
RBC Capital Markets analysts attributed this to a substantial €2.3 billion working capital inflow, which gave Vinci a financial cushion despite planned tax headwinds in 2025.
Vinci’s revenue rose 4% to €71.6 billion, marginally ahead of projections. Within its core business segments, the concessions unit posted a 5.9% rise in EBIT to €5.69 billion, while contracting EBIT climbed 7% to €3.3 billion.
Vinci Energies and Cobra IS were standouts, with the latter delivering a 13% increase in EBIT to €553 million, surpassing expectations.
The company also reported a historically high order book of €69.1 billion, up 13% from the previous year, reflecting strong demand in its contracting division.
In 2025, Vinci maintained its guidance for revenue and earnings growth, excluding the impact of a planned corporate tax increase in France that is expected to cost the company about €400 million.
CEO Xavier Huillard stated that Vinci’s diversified business model and strong international presence position it well amid economic uncertainties.
“In a more uncertain economic and geopolitical environment, the Group has thus good visibility on its future business levels and has begun 2025 in a quietly confident mood,” said Huillard.
“VINCI’s international presence increased further in 2024, in line with the Group’s long-standing strategy.”
Road traffic is expected to grow modestly and airport traffic is expected to continue recovering, although at a slower rate than in 2024. Vinci also reaffirmed its goal of building or operating 5GW of renewable electricity capacity by the end of next year.
Despite a reduction in net debt from €23.4 billion in mid-2024 to €20.4 billion by year-end, analysts at RBC Capital Markets noted that the substantial free cash flow outperformance did not fully translate into a lower debt level, given Vinci’s ongoing financial investments.
“We see Vinci’s valuation as attractive, with Vinci trading on trough valuation multiples of ~7x 2025E EV/EBITDA and ~12x 2025E PE. We think investors are paid to wait for Vinci to rerate, with Vinci paying an attractive dividend yield on a FCF yield growing from >8% in 2025E,” said analysts at RBC Capital Markets in a note.
“We see an attractive outlook for concessions traffic in 2025E and think the energy transition is driving up the quality of Vinci’s contracting business,” RBC added.
(Sam Boughedda contributed to this article).