FCC triples loss but cuts debt by third in 2016

Spain’s FCC closed 2016 with a net loss of EUR165.2m, trebling losses when compared with the previous year. The result was attributed to the impact of the cement business and the exchange rate on the environmental services business the company owns in the UK, the company’s second-largest source of income after Spain. For the company it means the fifth-consecutive year of losses.

FCC attributed the 2016 result mainly to the adjustment of value made in the goodwill of the cement division, for EUR299.9m, as a result of the "delay in the recovery of the sector in Spain". The company’s construction business saw a 17 per cent decline in 2016 as the Spanish building market was down by 35.4 per cent while in the UK exchange rates cut results by 4.5 per cent as a result of Brexit.

However, in the USA, the company sold its cement subsidiary to Carlos Slim and as a result, the group net financial debt fell by 34.3 per cent to EUR3596m. In addition, the company’s continued restructuring and reorganisation has resulted in a 12.6 per cent cost reduction.