EXCLUSIVE: Spanish contractors climb CE-100 league table

Ten out of 11 of Spain's largest construction companies improved their standings in this year's CE-100, the league table of Europe's largest contractors.

Inside the top 10 ACS moved up one place to third, and looks like it could claim second position from long-time incumbent Bouygues in next years' rankings. However, fellow French company Vinci looks secure in first place, the position it has occupied since the company was formed by the merger of GTM and SGE in 2000.

Elsewhere in the top ten, Ferrovial moved up one place to fifth and FCC moved up two places to seventh.

These gains meant that other contractors lost places and in the top ten this meant Hochtief, Skanska, Eiffage and Strabag each dropped a place compared to their rankings in the 2007 CE-100. last year's tenth-placed company, Bam, fell four places this year, leaving the top ten to be rounded-off by Saipem, the oil and gas contractor owned by Italian energy group Eni.

Just outside the top ten, Balfour Beatty was the highest-placed UK contractor in 11^th position, while Spain's Acciona moved up three places to no.12.

The expansion of Spain's contractors over the last year means they are close to being the strongest national force in European construction. Historically France's construction companies have enjoyed the largest slice of the CE-100's revenues. This was also true this year, with the ten French companies listed in the CE-100 racking-up revenues of € 84,4 billion - 21,9% of the € 386 billion total.

However, this year Spain's contractors closed the gap, with revenues for the 11 companies listed totalling € 77,2 billion - 20,1% of the total.

The full CE-100 ranking will be published in the July-August edition of Construction Europe. To request a subscription to the magazine, please visit: http://www.khl.com/subscriptions/

The 2008 CE-100 - Top Ten Companies