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Carillion employee jobs saved as Egis group acquires 30-year M40 motorway contract

The French engineering group Egis has announced it has won the 30-year contract to maintain part of the M40 motorway after originally undertaking the initial startup between 1997 and 2007.

It comes following the collapse of the industry giant Carillion in January, who won a 20-year contract back in 2007. However, today’s (25 April) announcement means the French group reinforces its highway infrastructure portfolio and will be responsible for operations and maintenance on the motorway stretch.

The operational and maintenance project consists of 123km of 2 x 3 lane motorway, with over 300 structures on a 30-year contract until January 2027. The firm will be working with UK Highways M40 Ltd, Highways England, the emergency services and other stakeholders on a range of core services. The group is returning to the M40 maintenance project through its newly created company Egis Road Operation M40 Ltd.

Egis has experience of operating similar schemes over the past ten years, either independently or with its partners, in the Republic of Ireland compiling of more than 470km of motorway and national roads. These include the Motorway Operational Control Centre covering the network, which encompasses Ireland's three principle motorway tunnels, one being the 4.5km Dublin Tunnel, one of Europe's longest urban motorway tunnels.

M40 motorway project overview:

  • 126km of existing 2 x 3 lanes motorway
  • 24km of widening to 2 x 4 lanes
  • 30-year contract to operate and maintain the motorway
  • Shadow toll payments from Highways Agency

The acquisition of the M40 contract comes in the same week as the group announced its 2017 results which revealed turnover remained level as a whole and overall financial results recorded an improvement. The year saw Egis turnover €1.050bn, slightly up compared to 2016. 

The engineering section of the firm posted sales of €799m which is up for the second consecutive year, business improved in France by more than 4.1%, notably in the rail, buildings and aviation markets. In operation and mobility services, excluding change in reporting scope, business activity grew by 6% to record €250m in turnover.

Commenting on the annual results, Nicolas Jachiet, chairman and chief executive of Egis, said: "Our 2017 results are fully in line with our growth targets. Egis has once again posted turnover in excess of €1bn, with a slight year-on-year rise, and most of our indicators are also improving. In an increasingly competitive environment, we particularly welcome the significant increase in our net profit, which amounts this year to €39.6m. I am certain that 2018 will be another year of progress for our group."

If you would like to contact Ryan Tute about this, or any other story, please email rtute@infrastructure-intelligence.com.