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We’ve examined the latest annual reports for the 10 biggest companies on the list to determine what revenue, profit, and profit margin they made during the year.

Where possible, we’ve also included a breakdown to see how the profit margin varied across different divisions of the business.

The figures should not be taken as a direct comparison between companies. That’s because different companies publish different financial metrics to indicate what level of profit they made, ranging from profit before income taxes, to net profit, to EBIT, and EBITDA.

Nonetheless, they do give some indication as to the margins that companies make and in the cases where margins are broken down by industry segment, they often illustrate that margins tend to be much tighter in construction contracting than in other areas like design and consulting services and particularly concessions to operate infrastructure like roads or airports.

1) China State Construction (CSCEC)

A full-year report for CSCEC in 2023 still isn’t available. However, its interim report for the six months running from January to June 2023 showed that it generated revenue of more than CNY 1.1 trillion (US$153.2 billion) over the period and made a profit before income taxes of in excess of CNY 49.6 billion (US$6.8 billion). Using the unrounded figures quoted in the annual report, that delivered a pre-tax profit margin of 4.5%.

2) China Railway Group

China Railway Group’s annual report for the full year to 31 December 2023 recorded revenue over the period of nearly CNY 1.3 trillion (US$174 billion). Meanwhile, its profit before income tax was nearly CNY 47.6 billion (US$6.6 billion) resulting in a pre-tax profit margin of 3.8%.

The group also provided a pre-tax margin for each of its business segments, with its survey, design and consultancy business yielding the highest margin, and property development the lowest – perhaps unsurprising given the ongoing difficult climate for residential property in China.

3) China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC)

At the group level, CRCC generated revenue totalling just over CNY 1.1 trillion (US$156.7 billion) for the year to 31 December 2023. Its pre-tax profit was CNY 38.8 billion (US$5.3 billion), resulting in a pre-tax margin of 3.4%.

Using information in CRCC’s annual report, Construction Briefing has also calculated pre-tax profit margins for each of its different business divisions:

4) China Communication Construction Company (CCCC)

China Communications Construction Company reported revenue in its 2023 annual report of CNY 755.6 billion (US$104.1 billion), with a pre-tax profit of CNY 37.5 billion (US$5.2 billion). That resulted in a pre-tax profit margin of 5%.

Construction Briefing has also calculated the level of operating profit margin each division of the business made in 2023, as pre-tax profit figures by division were not available.

Consistent with other companies, CCCC’s design business enjoyed a higher margin than its infrastructure construction operations. Its ‘other business’ division includes the manufacturing of TBM shield machines.

5) Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC)

The Metallurgical Corporation of China specialises in the construction of major iron and steel production facilities but also has a significant interest in municipal infrastructure construction and residential construction activities.

The business generated revenue of CNY 633.9 billion (US$87.3 billion) in 2023 and quoted a net profit figure in its annual report of CNY 11.4 billion (US$1.6 billion). That yielded a net profit margin of 1.8%.

The company also quoted revenue figures for each of its business divisions, along with a gross profit margin figure. Its housing construction and municipal engineering activities accounted for nearly 80% of the CNY 585.5 billion (US$80.7 billion) worth of revenue the division generated, with its metallurgical engineering activities making up the rest. Its resources development business, with a revenue of CNY 6.8 billion (US$939 million), focuses on the exploration for, and ore processing and smelting of, metals and minerals like nickel, cobalt hydroxide, crude copper, zinc and lead. Its ‘featured’ businesses, which generate revenue of nearly CNY 32 billion (US$4.4 billion) include engineering consulting, its steel structure business, and environmental protection operations.

6) Vinci Group

France-based construction Group Vinci achieved an overall profit margin of 12.1%, based on its operating income from ordinary activities (EBIT), according to its 2023 financial report. That figure was derived from EBIT of just under €8.4 billion (US$9.2 billion), divided by revenue of more than €68.8 billion (US$74.9 billion).

It also published a breakdown of its EBIT profit margin by business division, which shows how a margin of nearly 50% in its concessions business that operates more than 100 airports, highways and rail projects worldwide helped to bring up the overall average, as compared to other divisions like Vinci Construction.

7) Bouygues’ Construction Division

French conglomerate Bouygues’ construction-related businesses (including Bouygues Construction, Bouygues Immobilier and Colas) plus its technical services, facilities management, and energy services arm Equans together generated revenue of €46.1 billion (US$50.5 billion). Those same divisions made a contribution to group operating profit (COPA) of €1.4 billion (US$1.5 billion), yielding an operating profit margin of 3%.

Construction Briefing used the revenue and COPA figures given for each business division to calculate an operating margin.

8) Shanghai Construction Group

Shanghai Construction Group generated revenue of CNY 304.6 billion (US$42 billion), according to data published by MarketScreener and S&P Global Data. According to the figures, EBIT was CNY 3.1 billion (US$430 million), giving an EBIT margin of just over 1%.

9) ACS Group

Spain-based ACS Group owns a variety of well-known construction brands across the world, including Germany-based Hochtief, Australia’s Cimic, and Turner and Flatiron in the US.

It generated a turnover of €35.7 billion (US$41.2 billion) in 2023, with a net operating profit (EBIT) of just over €1.3 billion (US$1.4 billion). Its profit margin, based on net operating profit was 3.7%.

10) DR Horton

US-based housebuilder and developer DR Horton generated revenue in the year to 30 September 2023 of nearly US$35.5 billion and made a pre-tax profit in excess of US$6.3 billion. That resulted in a pre-tax profit margin of 17.8%, which was significantly higher than the margins generated by the contracting arms of other businesses in the list.