ASF - 2002 annual report - Vinci

Financial Strategy
2002 Results
2002 provided a remarkable illustration
of the Group's ability to
increase its profitability in a generally
lackluster economic context.
The Group is among the top
French performers for earnings
growth, with EBITDA up 13.9%,
operating income up 17.9%, earnings
before tax up 31.6% and net
income up 22.4%.
Operating targets
The Group succeeded in raising
operating margin to 62.3% in 2002
from 59.6% the previous year, and
is fully on track to reach its target
of 65% by 2005.
Capital expenditure policy
The Group continues to invest heavily
in extending the network, in
accordance with its scheduling
commitments towards the grantor
of the concession. Group expenditure
on construction of new sections
as well as lane extensions and
maintenance on existing sections
came to €729 million in 2002, and
approximately €750 million have
been earmarked for 2003.
Balance sheet objectives
The key event impacting the
Group's balance sheet in 2002 was
the major share issue carried out
with the March 2002 IPO. This injection
of capital by new investors fuelled
an improvement in the three
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key balance sheet indicators on
which it has chosen to focus its
financial disclosures.
The gearing ratio at December 31,
2002 was 2.48 versus 4.19 at
December 31, 2001. Net debt-to-
EBITDA ratio was reduced to 5.9 at
end-December 2002, from 7.3 a
year earlier.
Interest cover rose to 2.6, up from
2.3 at the end of 2001.
At the time of the March 2002 IPO
the Group undertook to improve
these ratios considerably by 2005,
as follows:
%
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
%
Post IPO
EBITDA margin
2002
Gearing ratio
2002
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006