ICRA Rating Methodology: Construction Companies
ICRA Rating Methodology: Construction Companies
ICRA Rating Methodology: Construction Companies
February 2013
Diversity of Order Book
Order Book Analysis—Risk Profile and Nature of Contracts
Adequacy of Resources
Operating Efficiency and Risk Management Policies
Exposure to Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Projects
Financial Position
Profitability and Returns
Capital Structure and Debt Coverage
Working Capital Intensity
Cash Flow Analysis
Tenure Mismatches, and Risks Relating to Interest Rates and Refinancing
Debt Servicing Track Record
Contingent Liabilities and Off-balance Sheet Liabilities
Liquidity and Financial Flexibility
Linkage with group companies, funding commitments for BOT projects &
Consolidated Financials
Adequacy of Future Cash Flow
Accounting Quality
1
The sub-sectors comprising the infrastructure sector include roads, water supply and sanitation, irrigation, power,
airports and ports.
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Client profile and diversity: The composition of clients in the contractor’s order book is
one of the indicators of its market position. The presence of large corporate entities,
central/state government funded projects, and experience of working with overseas
clients are reflective of a strong and diversified client profile and viewed favourably by
ICRA. The contractor’s ability to maintain strong working relationships with large clients
can also be gauged from the extent of repeat orders, lack of disputes and analysts’
interaction with contractor’s major clients.
Growth in revenue and order book: The contractor’s execution capability and its ability
to scale up is reflected in the growth in order book and turnover relative to its peers and
the construction industry. Therefore ICRA, in its analysis, compares the growth in the
revenue and order book of the company with that of the other players operating in the
same sector. While ICRA believes that a construction company’s order book is a good
indicator of its market position, a large increase in the order book could be the result of
aggressive pricing and can have adverse impact on future profitability and enhanced
execution risks because of challenges associated with rapid scaling-up. On the other
hand, lower accretion of fresh orders and weak order book could be a result of
company’s inability to perform well in execution of its prior contracts and/or its
unfavourable cost structure, or lack of bidding capacity arising from technical/financial
shortcomings.
Track Record
The track record of a construction company is an important input in the assessment of its
ability to efficiently execute its current order backlog. Moreover, the contractor’s track
record becomes an important bidding criterion and hence its ability to procure fresh
projects. While assessing the track record, ICRA’s critical focus is on size & complexity of
projects executed, timeliness & quality of construction, cost effectiveness and levy of
liquidated damages or penalties by the client, if any.
Client Diversification: In the construction sector, there are a large number of players
inviting tenders for projects, including Central and State Government entities, projects
funded by multilateral agencies as well as projects undertaken by entities in the private
sector. The profitability, payment cycle, and relative credit risk across these entities
could vary significantly. Private sector orders usually have a shorter and less
cumbersome bidding process, and the easier availability of project site and other
requisite approvals also provides for a shorter execution period. Public sector orders, on
the other hand, provide more stability to revenues as they are relatively less prone to
economic cycles. Overall, a healthy mix of public and private sector projects enables a
contractor to have a more stable revenue stream, manage working capital better, and
also lower its counter party credit risk. While reviewing a construction company’s client
mix, ICRA also analyses the ratio of contracts obtained from external parties to those
obtained from the contractor’s own group companies; in general, higher the proportion
of the latter, lower the pricing flexibility but more relaxed the contract terms.
Project Diversification: Large scale projects generally offer better margins, but excessive
exposure to large projects also leads to high concentration risk for a construction
company. At the same time, a large number of smaller contracts can increase execution
risks significantly as simultaneous execution makes greater demands on management
bandwidth and project management systems. ICRA, in its analysis, calculates the
contribution of the top five projects to the contractor’s order book; higher values (of
more than 65-70%) indicate high concentration risk for the company concerned.
Risk Profile of Projects: An analysis of the major projects in the company’s order book is
carried out to assess the likelihood of delays in their execution. Some of the factors that
can lead to delays in project execution and which are beyond the control of the
contractor are unavailability of the site, lack of environmental clearance, absence of
other requisite approvals, change in government policies/regulations, and delay in
achieving financial closure . Difficult terrain and unpredictable climate also increase the
risk of delays if the scheduled construction time does not have room for contingencies.
Project complexity is another important factor that can lead to project delays. In case
the contract does not adequately cover the construction company for cost overruns and
idling charges, its profitability can be severely impacted by project delays. Moreover,
these delays lead to deferment of cash flows for the contractor and also curtail its bid
capacity by the extent of the value of the delayed projects.
Nature of Contracts: Construction contracts are often priced assuming a certain level of
input (raw material) prices. Thus, any steep increase in raw material prices during
project execution can push up the project cost significantly beyond the initial estimates.
Moreover, delays in land acquisition or regulatory approvals may extend the
construction period, thereby exposing the company concerned to possible escalations in
commodity prices. A company that has entered into a fixed-price contract has to absorb
this increase in prices, which in turn would drive down its profit margins. In the case of
contracts having a cost escalation clause, ICRA also reviews the exact terms so as to
assess the adequacy of the escalations allowed under the contract to cover for the
actual increase in cost for the contractor. For instance, some contracts allow escalations
in input prices in line with the inflation rate (Wholesale Price Index, or WPI) whereas the
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actual increase tends to be much higher than this rate, thus exposing the contractor to
input price risk in spite there being an cost escalation clause in the contract. The other
important contractual terms examined include penalty clauses, obligations and
responsibilities of the client and the contractor, terms of payment, force majeure
conditions and flexibility in the extension of the project’s time schedule if the delay in
not attributable to the contractor.
Adequacy of Resources
While the order books of construction companies have reported robust growth in the recent
past on the strength of the significant investments being made in the infrastructure sector,
not all sector participants have been able to scale up their resources to the extent required.
This could also result in considerable delays in project completion. Hence ICRA, in its
analysis, takes into account the adequacy of the various resources of the company
concerned, viz. manpower (both skilled and unskilled), management bandwidth, project
management systems, machinery and equipment, and financial tie-ups, to assess its ability
to successfully execute the order book. Assessment of the contractor’s execution capability
is important as any delays in project execution can significantly impact its profitability and
cash flows. Moreover, delays can affect the company’s market position, thereby impacting
its ability to obtain orders, both fresh and repeat.
Attracting and retaining skilled manpower is also one of the key challenges for contractors,
as is training of human resources, given the increasing complexity of projects. Apart from
possessing skilled manpower, having good working relationship with labour contractors and
being in compliance with the local labour laws are necessary for uninterrupted operations.
These factors apart, ICRA also looks at the experience profile of the executives of the
company concerned and the attrition rates at various levels.
contractors, selecting reliable partners and maintaining tight control on delivery schedules
and service quality are critical to the success of a project. As for a company’s bidding policy,
ICRA also looks at the same to assess the trade-off between volume growth and margins.
The risk management policies adopted by a company are an important input for rating.
Companies with formalised policies and procedures—mandatory bid evaluation by a bid
assessment committee, third-party project appraisal, and consistent bidding policies, among
others—are viewed favourably by ICRA. The project-monitoring systems implemented by a
company, the policies put in place to mitigate credit risk, and other control mechanisms
instituted for functions like management of supplier and/or subcontractor relationships and
review of their execution strength, are also assessed.
BOT projects are implemented by project-specific special purpose vehicles (SPVs) and
generally the developer (who is also a contractor) also enters into a fixed-price EPC contract
with the SPV. On the one hand, the operating profits earned from the EPC contract partly
fund the equity contribution made by the contractor in the SPV, while on the other, the
fixed nature of the contract limits the contractor’s ability to recover costs in case there are
overruns because of price escalation.
In most cases, the debt component in BOT projects is without any recourse or with limited
recourse to the parent (contractor). However, ICRA believes that in case a project faces any
shortfall in meeting its debt or other obligations, it is likely that the contractor would
provide the necessary financial support out of moral obligation and also to protect its
interest in the project. Hence, while assessing the credit profile of a contractor, all the BOT
projects in its portfolio are also analysed to ascertain the extent of risk in each project and
the financial support the parent may have to extend to these projects in case of need.
contingency
in case of any
Financial support
from EPC contract
Operating Profits
contribution
Equity
Further, given the large funding requirements for implementing these BOT projects, the
biggest challenge faced by private infrastructure developers today is that of raising funds to
meet equity commitments towards their infrastructure assets. Many of the developers are
raising funds at the HoldCo level, which are then routed in the form of equity to the SPVs
implementing various infrastructure assets. The funds in HoldCos are raised by several
means including direct equity infusion by the promoters, private equity funds (which
sometimes are in the form of structured debt with buyback clauses and guaranteed returns)
and increasingly also through debt. In case of debt fund raising by HoldCos to fund equity
investments in the SPVs, the concept of double leveraging gains importance which results in
reduction of the developer’s effective financial commitment in the projects and consequent
increase in the lender’s exposure to project risks.
Further, ICRA analyses the organisation structure of the company, focusing especially on
management depth, delegation of responsibility, and accountability. The domestic
construction industry is currently facing a shortage of skilled manpower, especially of civil
engineers. Paucity of skilled manpower lowers efficiency and increases the likelihood of
project-completion getting delayed. The ability of the rated company’s management to
employ and retain employees with technical expertise is looked upon favourably by ICRA.
ICRA also takes into account the ownership pattern of the company being rated. Wide
dispersal of non-promoter holding and presence of Independent Directors on the Board of
the candidate company are viewed positively by ICRA as these factors are often a proxy for
management quality and corporate governance. Among the other corporate-governance
related areas focused on are related party transactions, and interactions with external
auditors.
Financial Position
2
Operating Profit before Depreciation, Interest and Tax/Operating Income
3
Profit before Interest & Tax/(Total Debt + Tangible Net Worth)
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from Operations (FFO) after adjusting for working capital changes, the Retained Cash Flows,
and the Free Cash Flows after meeting debt repayment obligations and capital expenditure
needs. The cash flow analysis also helps in understanding the external funding requirement
that a construction company has in order to meet its maturing obligations.
available to it. These cash flows are then used to determine the company’s future debt
servicing capability under various scenarios. Apart from cash flow projections, the other
ratios used to assess cash flows are Fund Flow from Operations (FFO) interest coverage, FFO
debt coverage, and FFO capital expenditure coverage.
Accounting Quality
The financial analysis begins with a review of the contractor’s accounting quality.
Accounting practices such as income recognition method (percentage of completion versus
completed), depreciation methods and asset lives, and treatment of contingent liabilities,
are reviewed and compared with the industry practices. The company’s policies on
recognition of disputed revenues and disclosure of contingent liabilities are also examined
while assessing its accounting quality. When projects get delayed, claims for idling of
resources and cost overruns are submitted by the contractor and in some cases counter-
claims are lodged by clients. In the absence of an efficient arbitration mechanism such
disputes usually take long to get resolved. A company that recognises such claims as
revenues only after they have been settled in its favour by the relevant authority is viewed
favourably by ICRA. Also, if there are counter-claims, adequate provisioning and inclusion in
contingent liabilities are considered more prudent.
Summing up
ICRA’s credit ratings are a symbolic representation of its opinion on the relative credit risk
associated with the instrument being rated. This opinion is arrived at following a detailed
evaluation of the issuer’s business and financial risks, its competitive strengths, its likely
cash flows over the life of the instrument being rated, and the adequacy of such cash flows
vis-à-vis its debt servicing obligations. As this note highlights, for construction companies,
the analytical emphasis is extended to include factors like the company’s ability to execute
projects, its cash flows after adjusting for working capital, its exposure to BOT projects, and
the likelihood of its contingent liabilities devolving.
ICRA Limited
An Associate of Moody’s Investors Service
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