| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Traded as | Euronext: RE |
| Industry | Civil Engineering |
| Headquarters | Boulogne-Billancourt |
| Services | Road construction, railway track construction |
| Parent | Bouygues |
| Subsidiaries | Colas Ltd Colas Rail Sacer Screg |
| Website | www.colas.com |
Colas Group is a major French civil engineering firm specialising in road construction and rail track construction through its subsidiary Colas Rail. Since the 1990s the group has incorporated the road construction firms Screg and Sacer.
Road construction constitutes 80% of the group's activities. Additional related activities include road signage, construction, and other civil engineering activities, including pipe laying, and rail track construction and maintenance.[1]
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In the 1920s, patents were filed by two British Chemists; Hugh Alan Mackay and George Samuel Hay for improved methods of preparing a bitumen emulsion.[2][3] In 1924, exclusive rights to patents in France were obtained by Alexandre Giros for use by the Sociètè Générale d'Entreprises (SGE). The product was given the name Colas in 1924, deriving from the terms 'cold' and 'asphalt'.[4][5]
The SGE developed production facilities in France in the 1920s (fed by demand) and also exported the product to French North-African possessions, Poland, and Romania. By the end of the 1920s, demand was such that SGE sought partnership with the Anglo-Dutch oil company Shell to expand the business; the company Société Routière Colas was founded with two Shell subsidiaries taking two thirds of the stock and the SGE the remaining third. Despite being created during the Great Depression, the company was successful. The company developed new bitumen emulsion derived products and diversified into a wide range of road construction services during the 1930s.[4]
During the Second World War, the company was treated as an enemy possession, being majority owned by the Dutch company. After the end of the war the company recovered and was the leading road construction company in France. It expanded into French North Africa, creating full subsidiary operations in Algeria and Morocco by 1950. The Société Parisienne Raveau-Cartier acquired most of Shell's shares in the company in 1958.[4]
In the decades following World War II, the company established a strong position in the French market through collaborations with the government transport ministry. The company continued to operate in former colonies in Africa and elsewhere, and began to expand via native subsidiaries into other European countries. It also expanded through acquisition in France,[note 1] as well as Belgium (Arboroute) and Canada,[note 2] and established a presence in the United States in Vermont, New England.[4]
In the 1980s the company was still the market leader in France and North Africa.[4] It acquired Grands Travaux de l’Est, which was the starting point for expansion into the countries of the Indian Ocean and of its civil engineering activities.[5] The company Bouygues became the main shareholder in the 1980s, with Colas under the Shell/Bouygues joint holding the Société d'Investissement de Travaux Publics (SITP). The French road construction competitors Screg and Sacer were also within the SITP structure. By the 1990s the international subsidiaries had been bought back from Shell, and in the 1990s both Sacer (1993) and Screg (1997) became subsidiaries of Colas.[4] In 2000 the group acquired Seco Rail,[note 3][5] followed by AMEC Spie Rail[note 4] in May 2007.[9][10] The rail division Colas Rail was formed in 2007.
The origins of the Sacer company date to the 19th century and the company Anciens Etablissements Brun, formed by merger of the companies of Gaëtan Brun (son of Pierre-Jean-Félix Brun[note 5]) and Alphonse Brun; the company had steam tractors used for transportation of agricultural produce, and put them into use for road construction in between the agriculturally active seasons. The first road rolling contract was awarded in 1874.[12] A new automated product, Bitulithe,[note 6], was developed in 1911.[12]
In 1920, the road rolling businesses were split into a separate company, Société Anonyme pour la Construction et l'Entretien des Routes (SACER).[11][14] In the next two decades the company expanded throughout France and into Algeria and Morocco.[15]
In 1969 the investment group Raveau-Cartier (also a stakeholder in Colas) took control of Sacer. In 1992, it became a subsidiary of Colas, and in 2002 the Sacer holding company merged with Colas and three regional subsidiaries were formed: Sacer Atlantique, Sacer Paris-Nord-Est and Sacer Sud-Est.[15]
In 1910, in Blaye near Bordeaux, France, the chemical company JF Humarau & Cie. (founded 1898 by Jean-Ferdinand and Louis Humarau) set up a factory for the distillation of tar; in 1917 this became the Société Chimique de La Gironde (SCG), known as "La Gironde". From 1924 the company began to specialise in products for road construction. In 1926 the company began to produce bitumen emulsions, and by 1928 had over ten production plants.[16]
During the 1930s the company became involved in road construction, becoming the Société Chimique & Routière de la Gironde (SCRG) in 1936. In the next three decades the company diversified into related business areas, including civil engineering and construction; in 1964 the company was renamed Société Chimique Routière & d’Entreprise Générale (Screg).[16] In the 1979 the subisidiary Screg Routes et Travaux Publics was spun off, and during the 1980s Sacer and Colas become part of the same holding group as Screg. Screg Belgium was founded in 1989.[16]
In the 1990s the company becomes a subidiary of the Colas group, and the road construction company 'Screg Routes' becomes the 'Screg' subsidiary.[4][16] In 2006 'Screg Belgium' was renamed 'Colas Belgium'.[17]