Column by Pierre Vanstoflegatte, Chief Executive Officer of Colas
In a world marked by geopolitical tensions, accelerated energy transitions and shorter economic cycles, the Colas strategy is designed for the long term. Our ambition is clear: to continue supporting territories through their transformations, while strengthening the Group’s performance and fully assuming our environmental and social responsibility. Our 2025 results, our Colas international growth and the actions undertaken to drive the sustainable transition demonstrate the strength of our model and the relevance of our choices.
Consolidating a robust model in an uncertain environment
The year 2025 was marked by strained supply chains and an unstable macroeconomic environment. In this context, Colas nevertheless recorded an increase in revenue, an operating margin of 3.7% and a net financial surplus of 1.2 billion euros.
These performances are not a matter of chance. They reflect the robustness of our integrated business model, our local presence in the territories and the commitment of our teams in the field. They also illustrate the ability of the Colas strategy to combine operational discipline and long-term vision, maintaining a healthy order book and improving profitability in most of our geographies.
Beyond the numbers, 2025 confirmed that our way of conceiving our business – controlling the value chain, being close to our customers, investing in R&D and in skills – enables us to withstand crises while preparing for the future.
Three priorities to transform Colas for the long term
The Colas strategy today is structured around three complementary priorities that drive our transformation.
The first is to make full use of our industrial assets. We are continuing in-depth work on the efficiency of our production sites, the quality of our materials and the competitiveness of our offerings. This effort is accompanied by targeted investments in lower‑carbon processes and recycling, in order to meet the growing expectations of our customers in terms of environmental performance.
The second priority is to consolidate our historic positions in Roads, while accelerating in Rail. Colas has been recognised for decades as a major player in road infrastructure. We are capitalising on this expertise to improve productivity, secure our margins and offer more sustainable solutions. At the same time, we are strengthening our presence in the rail sector, at the heart of the mobility transition. This ramp‑up is based both on organic growth and on targeted acquisitions, which enable us to quickly reach critical mass in strategic markets.
The third priority is to open up new development fields linked to the environmental transition: circular economy, ecological engineering and water. By re‑using materials from deconstruction, designing stormwater management solutions and supporting the renaturing of urban spaces, Colas is positioning itself as a global partner to territories. These adjacent activities complement our traditional offering and represent major growth drivers for the coming years.
Accelerating our international expansion
International growth is a structuring pillar of the Colas development strategy. Our approach is deliberately selective: the aim is not to be present everywhere, but to have strong positions wherever we choose to operate. This is why we favour significant acquisitions capable of immediately giving us a leading role in a market.
The United States illustrates this logic perfectly. In a highly fragmented environment, only the integration of established players makes it possible to build lasting positions. Winning large‑scale projects, such as the widening of the Interstate 10 highway delivered by our subsidiary Sully‑Miller in California, further strengthens our local footprint and demonstrates our ability to deliver major infrastructure.
We are also stepping up our efforts in Germany, with the planned acquisition of road construction and recycling activities, as well as in Scandinavia and Australia, where we see solid growth opportunities emerging. Everywhere, the Colas strategy remains the same: build on our integrated business model, invest in local teams and offer solutions tailored to the specific needs of each territory.
An integrated model driven by committed teams
What makes Colas strong today, beyond the figures, is the combination of an integrated model and highly committed teams. Controlling the value chain, from materials production through to project execution, enables us to guarantee our customers a high level of quality, responsiveness and competitiveness.
But a model, however robust, only comes to life through the women and men who bring it to life. On our worksites, in our quarries, laboratories and design offices, thousands of employees are committed every day to designing, building and maintaining infrastructure that is essential to daily life. Their expertise, their service mindset and their capacity to innovate make the Colas strategy a concrete reality on the ground.
This agility is fuelled by a culture of innovation deeply embedded in the Group’s DNA. New materials, recycling processes, digital infrastructure management tools, more efficient mobility solutions: everywhere, we strive to improve our practices to meet climate, economic and social challenges.
Making Colas an inclusive and responsible company
The transition we are driving is also human and social. Like the entire construction and infrastructure sector, we must make progress in terms of gender balance, diversity and inclusion. This is a key focus of the Colas strategy.
We are continuing to increase the proportion of women in our teams, particularly in technical and management roles, by acting from the stages of career orientation and training. We are working to dismantle the stereotypes surrounding our professions, in order to attract new profiles and encourage everyone to build a long‑term career within the Group.
Beyond the figures, our ambition is simple: to make Colas an inclusive company and a place to work where you can learn, grow, take on responsibility and thrive. We are convinced that an inclusive company is more efficient, safer, more innovative and better equipped to face the transformations ahead.
Heading for 2026: performance, transition and confidence
The year 2026 is beginning in a less favourable context, but our course remains clear. We want to reignite a trajectory of profitable growth, strengthen our competitiveness and continue the transformation already under way. The Colas environmental transition is not just a constraint; it is a powerful lever for innovation and differentiation for Colas.
By accelerating in the circular economy, reducing our carbon footprint and offering more resilient infrastructure solutions, we support our customers – public authorities, private clients and industrial partners – in their own transition pathways.
We are entering this new phase with confidence. Our order book gives us visibility. The robustness of our integrated business model, the support of the Bouygues group and the synergies between our businesses give us the means to invest in the future. Above all, the commitment of our teams around the world is a decisive asset in implementing the Colas strategy on a daily basis.
For us, preparing the future means continuing to reconcile economic performance, environmental responsibility and social progress, in the service of the territories where we operate.
