GROWTH YET AGAIN

The ICON 200 has seen a number of years of strong sales, and the latest table is no exception

When construction is called an essential industry, it really is true; no matter what else is happening around the world – global pandemics, wars, supply chain issues, rampant inflation – the demand for new construction, as well as repair work and replacing existing infrastructure, will always be there.

This essentialness is, once again, illustrated by the results of the ICON 200, which looks at sales results for construction-related contractors for 2023. The total sales of the table has hit its highest ever figure: US$2.122 trillion. This figure – while undoubtedly eyewateringly high – is only a small increase from last year’s table, when sales were US$2.028 trillion, which is perhaps a nod to the challenging conditions that have been faced. It would be charitable to describe construction conditions in China in 2023 as challenging – the country’s real estate sector had major problems and much of the large scale infrastructure projects that have been completed. Despite this, China-based contractors accounted for 44.06% of the total sales of the table, a very slight increase from last year. A large proportion of this is driven by those companies at the top of the list.

With China beginning to see a recovery, the smart money is for another increase for the table next year

China State Construction & Engineering (CSCEC) had sales in 2023 of US$317 billion. To put that in some perspective, that is comfortably more than the sales of the firms ranked number ten to six on the list combined. The Chinese dominance of the top of the list continues, with the top five positions once again taken up by China-based contractors. Interestingly, not all of these companies saw sales increase from last year, but the ones that did see sales fall saw only marginal declines and nothing to threaten their positions.

Given the difficulties that the Chinese domestic market has faced, these results illustrate the extent to which Chinese contractors are operating overseas. For many of the biggest Chinese OEMs, export sales are at around 50% of total revenue and, helped by the country’s Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese contractors are also seeing their export revenue steadily rise.

Once again, the first non-Chinese contractor on the list is Vinci, in sixth position. The France-based company increased sales and did gain on fifth placed Metallurgical Corporation of China, but not by enough to overhaul them. Fellow France-based contractor Bouygues is in seventh and then comes the first movement in the top ten, with Shanghai Construction Group rising a place to eighth, swapping places with ACS, which is now in ninth. This is an exact reversal of what happened on last year’s table. DR Horton, the US-based housebuilder, completes the top ten.

Once again, Chinese contractors provide the majority of sales in the ICON 200 by a considerable distance. Contractors from the world’s second largest economy and most populated country contribute 44.06% of all sales, similar to last year's table. There are ten China-based contractors on the list; between them they have sales of US$930 billion. It illustrates how strong these contractors are globally that the percentage figure holds steady despite construction in China falling in 2023. The US supplies the second largest amount of revenue on the table, with its contractors providing 13.5% of the total (slightly down on last year’s 13.7%) for a total of $286 billion. After the US there is a not inconsiderable gap to the country that produces the next amount of revenue – France. Contractors from the country that hosted the 2024 Olympics provide 8.09%

Eye on the future

The total amount of sales generated by the ICON 200 has been – generally speaking – rising steadily for a number of years. There was a larger increase in the 2021 table from 2020 but then the last few years have resumed the pattern of steady growth, with this latest table no exception.

The challenges that the sector has faced in recent years remain – a lack of workers, rising inflation, global instability, material shortages, inflation, war – although some of these issues have eased while others have gotten worse. The fact that China has suffered such a of the total sales of the ICON 200, up from 7.6% on last year’s table.

The fact that France provides such a strong figure is mainly down to the strong performance of Vinci and Bouygues, which sit in sixth and seventh placed on the list respectively. The country has a total of eight companies on the list.

Japan-based contractors provide 7.9% of the total revenue, down from last year’s 8.3% despite having a high number of contractors on the list at 33. Spain-based contractors provide the fifth most revenue to the table at 4.5%, a slight increase from last year.

challenging couple of years and the ICON 200 has continued to grow illustrates the strength of the global market and how international these contractors are.

In the analysis of last year’s table it was predicted that sales for the list would remain at roughly the same level, “but, such is the strength of the sector, another rise can’t be ruled out.”

That rise has indeed happened and, with China beginning to see a recovery, the smart money is for another increase for the table next year. Construction truly is an essential industry.