BUSINESS NEWS: Chinese authorities controls the largest construction companies

According to a ranking conducted by the British publication KHL Construction, the main four construction companies in the world, according to the turnover reported in 2014, have Asian working capital, being directly controlled by the Chinese state. The China State Construction & Engineering Company (CSCEC) is maintaining for the second consecutive year its first position among the largest contractors in the world. On the second position is placed the company China Railway Group, which has surpassed its main competitor - China Railway Construction - holding now the third place. For the first time in the history, the official ranking includes the first four contractors of Chinese origin, the last of them being China Communications Construction, which exceeded French group Vinci, which occupy only the fifth position in the top. According to the financial data available for 2014, CSCEC was the only company in the world has exceeded 100 billion USD in business, the first enterprise in the group of four Chinese companies cumulating total revenues of approximately 375 billion USD in the past financial year. Significant changes have occurred, however, in the second half of the ranking of ten contractors in the world, some traditional European groups such as Bouygues (France), ACS (Spain) and Hochtief (Germany) registering the largest revenue group similar to an American construction company - namely Bechtel and another Chinese state-owned company - Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC). According to the KHL, the main 200 entrepreneurs in the world registered total turnover of 1.63 billion USD, up with 0.3% compared to the level in 2013. The average degree of profitability of the 200 companies ranked in 2014 at 4.79%, improving slightly from 4.65%, recorded in the previous financial year. In terms of employment, in the 200 construction companies worked at the end of last year, a total of 4.6 million employees, 6.5% less than the level of 4.9 million workers reported in 2013, resulting in the fact that every company in the top 200 has on average 24,500 employees.