Net invested capital

The net invested capital amounted to € 1,243.6 million at December 31, 2015, for a decrease of € 32.0 million compared with the end of the previous year. The main changes are primarily attributable to the factors mentioned below.

Property, plant and equipment, intangible assets and non-current financial assets

Net property, plant and equipment, intangible assets and non-current financial assets were up € 87.1 million.
This item is split as follows:

(Amounts in €/000) December 31, 2015 December 31, 2014 Change 
Property, plant and equipment  594,365 567,919 26,446
Intangible assets  193,821 160,014 33,807
Investments  131,254 104,422 26,832
Property, plant and equipment, intangible assets and non-current financial assets  919,440 832,355 87,085
 

Property, plant and equipment increased by € 26.4 million mainly due to:

  • additional investments equal to € 215.4 million that concerned projects abroad, in particular Line 3 of Riyadh’s Metro in Arabia, the Red Line in Qatar and projects in Ethiopia and, in Italy, the project concerning the Milan-Genoa High-Speed/High Capacity Railway;
  • amortizations and depreciation of the year for an overall € 189.3 million.

Intangible fixed assets increased by € 33.8 million. This was mainly due to:

  • additional investments equal to € 52.8 million, mainly related to contract acquisition costs of projects mainly concerning Line 3 of Riyadh’s Metro in Arabia, the Verona-Padua High Speed - High Capacity Railway in Italy;
  • amortizations of the period for an overall € 24.6 million.

This increase in investments is mainly due to capital injections made in investments in unconsolidated subsidiaries in Italy and abroad.

Net non-current assets held for sale

Net non-current assets held for sale amounted as at December 31, 2015 to € 41.6 million. They include the net assets of the following units of the Group:

  • the divisions of Todini Costruzioni Generali S.p.A. (net assets held for sale), for a total amount of € 35.9 million (€ 73.8 million); and
  • net assets regarding the USW Campania Projects for € 5.7 million, which have not changed compared to last year.

At December 31, 2014, the caption being examined included, in addition to what has been mentioned above, an asset belonging to Co.Ge.Ma. S.p.A., for € 4.7 million value, and whose transfer occurred during the first days of 2015.

The change for the entry, compared to last year, regards the change of the sale scheme of the Todini Costruzioni Generali divisions, which has been already commented upon, and the detection of losses in value with reference to divisions being sold for an overall € 17.2 million.

Provisions for risks

Provisions for risks amount to € 106.4 million and show an increase equal to € 8.8 million, mainly concerning:

  • a reduction of provisions for risks by € 4.5 million, mainly concerning changes in the transfer scheme of Todini;
  • the increase of other provisions due to accruals for € 21.6 million, partially offset by utilizations for € 12.8 million and other changes, concerning exchange rate differences and discounting equal to € 1.6 million.

Net tax assets (liabilities)

The caption may be broken down as follows:

(Amounts in €/000) 

December 31, 2015 December 31, 2014 Change  
Deferred tax assets  64,064 138,402 (74,338)  
Deferred tax liabilities  (55,857) (80,435) 24,578  
Net deferred tax assets  8,207 57,967 (49,76)  
Current income tax assets  114,577 95,477 19,100  
Current income tax liabilities  (68,273) (47,484) (20,789)  
Net Current tax assets  46,304 47,993 (1,689)  
Other tax receivables  142,652 96,489 46,163  
Other tax payables  (61,097) (53,751) (7,346)  
Net other current tax assets  81,555 42,738 38,817  
Total net tax assets (liabilities)  136,066 148,698 (12,632)  

Working capital

Working capital increased by € 53.0 million, from € 331.3 million to € 278.3 million.

The main changes are summarised below:

  • Inventories totalled € 268.1 million, up € 5.3 million over the previous year due to the combined effect of increased procurement activity due to the progress concerning foreign contracts, and in particular Line 3 of the Riyadh Metro in Saudi Arabia and to the projects in Ethiopia, partially offset by the consumption of materials regarding railway projects in Venezuela;
  • Contract work in progress totalled € 1,775.8 million (€ 1,252.8 million), and refer to foreign projects for € 1,376.2 million and to projects in Italy for € 399.6 million. The overall increase for € 523.0 million is due for € 44.4 million to projects in Italy and to € 478.6 million to projects abroad. This change includes the effect of production development, with particular regard to the Milan-Genoa section of the High Speed/High Capacity railway in Italy, and to our projects in Qatar, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and Denmark;
  • ‘Advances on contract work’ includes both contract advances and the value of “negative” ongoing works (i.e. invoiced advances greater than the cumulative value of the projects built) and, globally amount to € 1,862.8 million, increased by € 136.9 million. This change was mainly due to the effects of the following factors:
    • the net increase in contract advances for € 194,0 million was mainly due to effects of the increase of the investment stake in the company that is constructing the Line 3 Metro Riyadh project, and to the collection of advances on new projects, such as the Al Bayt Stadium project in Qatar, to the absorption due to work progress, to the hydroelectric projects in Ethiopia and to the High Speed/High Capacity Milan-Genoa railway section;
    • the decrease of the ‘negative work in progress for an overall amount of € 57.2 million, with particular reference to Line 4 of Milan’s Metro, to the Vegas Tunnel in the USA and to the Adiyan Water Treatment Plant in Nigeria;
  • the current receivables show an increase for a total of € 71.2 million. This item includes € 211.6 million of receivables towards third-parties for € 1,381.6 million and receivables towards unconsolidated Group companies and other related parties for € 179.1 million. The latter are reduced by € 80.6 million mainly due to the effect of the takings concerning unconsolidated Italian consortia while credits towards third-parties are reduced by € 40.0 million mainly due to the effects of the takings on projects in Ethiopia. The caption being examined includes receivables towards clients in Venezuela concerning railway works equal to € 231.3 million for the majority denominated in a strong currency (Euro and Dollars);
  • payables increased by € 203.7 million and include payables towards third-parties for 1,501.7 million (€ 1,273.1 million) towards unconsolidated companies of the Group and other related parties for € 128.8 million (€ 153.6 million). Amounts payable to suppliers are mainly due to the increase of the production volumes on certain projects among which Line 3 of Riyadh’s Metro in Saudi Arabia and the Milan-Genoa High Capacity/High Speed railway section;
  • other assets decreased by € 171.4 million mainly due to the effect of the collection of some receivables towards non-consolidated companies of the Group, besides the absorption of advances to suppliers and accrued income due to the progress of projects as stated before. The other current liabilities remained basically
    unvaried.