Construction giant CSCE reveals its global ambitions

China State Construction Engineering Corp (CSCE), which had the world's biggest initial public offering last year, aims to be the world's biggest property construction firm and one of the 100 largest global companies by 2020.

The ambitious plans were contained in an announcement posted on the Shanghai Stock Exchange website yesterday. The state-owned firm raised 50.2 billion yuan (HK$57.11 billion) from its share offer in Shanghai last year.

'The board held a strategic meeting to conduct in-depth research into the company's development,' the statement said. 'The board wants to build up CSCE as an internationally competitive firm.'

The company ranked No 292 among the world's largest firms last year, up from 385 in 2008.

CSCE said it planned to gain 480 billion yuan of orders and 300 billion yuan of revenue this year, 15.2 per cent higher than its revenue and 6.7 per cent higher than its orders last year. In 2009, its orders rose 45.9 per cent to 450 billion yuan, while turnover grew 28.8 per cent to 260.4 billion yuan and net profit jumped 108.7 per cent to 5.73 billion yuan.

CSCE's net profit and revenue last year beat the estimates of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Nonetheless, its shares dipped 0.7 per cent to 4.05 yuan in Shanghai yesterday.

'The company reached a breakthrough in its overseas business last year, winning tenders for road and bridge projects in the US, Algeria and Congo Brazzaville. An outstanding win by the firm was the Revel Atlantic City entertainment complex in the US,' said CSCE.