Egyptian engineering and construction contractor, Orascom Construction Plc, has added new projects worth $785 million to its backlog of active construction works in Q4 2021.
According to a press statement issued by the leading construction group, the new projects raised the total number of awards linked to the group by 22 percent to $3.5 billion in 2021.
A breakdown of the figure revealed that projects in the Middle East comprised 55 percent of the new awards for the period., including transportation and power projects in Egypt and water projects in Egypt and Tunisia.
Outside the Middle East, new awards in the United States accounted for 45 percent of the total additions in the quarter, and this was driven by new projects in the commercial sector.
As of Dec. 30, 2021, the estimated consolidated backlog stood at $6.1 billion. This is $100-million higher than its figure for Q3 2021.
The new projects added in Q4 2021 lagged behind the volume of new awards added in Q3 2021, which amounted to $962.4 million thanks to Orascom signing a deal to build Egypt’s first high-speed rail system, as well as sizeable contracts in the student housing sector in the United States.
Orascom Construction is a leading global engineering and construction contractor founded by the late Egyptian industrialist Onsi Sawiris, who died on June 29 at 91.
The billionaire Sawiris family holds a 51.8-percent stake in the Egypt-based contractor through OS Private Trust Company, while Egypt’s wealthiest man Nassef Sawiris owns a 28.97-percent stake in the group, amounting to 33,825,323 ordinary shares.
As of press time, Jan. 18, shares in the group were trading at EGP76 ($4.829) per share. This is 1.23-percent higher than their opening price on the Egyptian Stock Exchange this morning.
At this price, the company’s market capitalization is EGP8.87 billion ($563.9 million).
