Despite the massive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global construction industry was disrupted less than other industries during 2020. However, the pandemic has affected the growth outlook for the coming years, as the higher indebtedness caused by the increase in public spending required to mitigate the COVID-19 crisis may jeopardize the sustainability of public finances in some countries and, consequently, infrastructure investment possibilities. However, the current crisis should only have a limited effect on the long-term megatrends that will drive growth for the coming years: population growth and urbanization, climate change and decarbonization of the economy and technology and digital transformation. The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on public finance will likely cause public-private cooperation to become a key option to ensure infrastructure investment.

The Global Powers of Construction 2020 (GPoC) report ranks the top 100 global construction companies based on sales, and the top 30 companies based on market capitalization. Like previous years, the report analyzes the current macroeconomic outlook of the construction sector and forecasts its growth across major markets. It analyzes the key financial indicators of the leading players - performance in terms of revenue, market capitalization, international presence, diversification, profitability, indebtedness, and other financial ratios. This year’s report also includes a section analyzing a number of trends that have been shaping construction over the last few years or are expected to have a great impact in the near future, taking into account the new post-pandemic priorities.

Key findings:

• The total revenue obtained by the GPoC companies in 2020 amounted to US$ 1,511 trillion, 3.7% higher than in 2019.
• Chinese companies continue to dominate the top 100 ranking by revenues, with 6 companies in the top 10 in terms of sales. However, there is only one Chinese company in the Top 10 ranking by market capitalization and two Chinese companies in the top 10 ranking by international sales.
  
• In 2020 the GPoC obtained about 17% of total revenue outside their respective domestic markets, down from 19% of international sales in 2019.
  
• The financial performance of the top 30 GPOC in 2020 was uneven, since the COVID-19 crisis didn’t affect all sectors and countries in which these companies operate to the same extent.