Construcciones El Cóndor S.A.

What it is

Construcciones El Cóndor has been building Colombia’s hardest roads since 1979 — highways, tunnels, viaducts, bridges, dams and open-cast mines — and has become a reference name in the country’s road infrastructure sector. It also invests in road, airport and energy concession projects, using that investment book to generate future construction contracts.

Its 44-year track record spans urbanisation, rail, hydroelectric and mining projects, giving it an unusually broad engineering base for a Colombian mid-cap. The company has a presence in Colombia and, through its investment arm, also in Chile and the United States.

Who owns it

The controlling block sits with three closely held private companies — Petricorp S.A.S., Investarco S.A.S. and Toplum S.A.S.

— which are the real beneficial owners behind a pledged-shares trust known as the Garantía Acciones El Cóndor. Their exact combined ownership percentage is not disclosed in available public filings, though Colombian securities rules classify any holder of 5% or more as a controlling or significant shareholder.

The company has 628,064,220 shares subscribed and paid, of which 53,698,400 are treasury shares the company has bought back, leaving roughly 574 million shares in circulation. For the ninth consecutive year in 2024, the BVC’s Investor Relations Committee awarded El Cóndor its Emisores-IR recognition — a distinction for disclosure quality.

Who runs it

Luis Alfredo Turizo Ortiz is the president (CEO) of Construcciones El Cóndor, and personally signed the company’s Q4 2024 consolidated financial certifications as legal representative. Ana Milena Muñoz García serves as chief accountant (Contadora), co-signing those same audited statements.

The board elected in March 2023 for a two-year term included Alejandro Correa Restrepo, José Nicanor Bernal Vélez, Riccardo Nicoletti, María Cristina Albarracín Roldán, Luz María Correa Vargas and Carlos Eduardo Pacheco Martínez. A new board for the 2025–2027 period, including Carlos Eduardo Vergara Emilian, María Cristina Albarracín Roldán, Luz María Correa Vargas, Alejandro Correa Restrepo and Manuela Villa Correa, was appointed at the March 2025 AGM.

The money, in plain words

Consolidated revenue from ordinary activities reached COP 1.7 trillion (USD ~502 million) in 2024, up 34% from 2023 — a strong top-line that is, unfortunately, almost beside the point when costs are examined. Operating costs at the consolidated level came in at COP 1.1 trillion (US$325 mn), up 22% year-on-year in the final quarter alone.

The consolidated net loss for 2024 was COP 171,078 million (USD ~50.5 million) — a net margin of approximately −10.1% (our calculation) — a figure the auditor highlighted explicitly in its opinion. Total assets stood at COP 2.32 trillion (US$685 mn), while total liabilities reached COP 1.7 trillion (US$502 mn), leaving equity under real pressure.

Given those results, the March 2025 AGM resolved that no dividend would be paid for the 2024 year.

At the separate-company level (excluding subsidiaries), the picture is slightly different: El Cóndor posted a separate net profit of COP 22,600 million (US$7 mn) — a thin net margin of roughly 1.94%. The gap between the two numbers reflects losses absorbed through its concession investment portfolio at the group level.

What it is doing now

The most significant recent move was the April 2025 closing of the sale of its 48% stake in Concesión Pacífico Tres S.A.S. to a group of companies in the Patria Investments Infrastructure Fund V — Rodovías Uruguay and Rodovías España — a deal originally signed in September 2024.

The proceeds are earmarked to repay secured creditors as part of a debt-reduction plan.

On the construction side, the company won an extension and addendum to Contract 958 of 2021 for roads leading to the Túnel del Toyo (Toyo Tunnel), originally awarded by national roads agency INVIAS and since transferred to the Department of Antioquia. The group also simplified its corporate structure in December 2024, with the liquidation and deregistration of subsidiary Concesión Cesar Guajira S.A.S., registered at the Medellín Chamber of Commerce.

What to watch

• Going-concern flag: The external auditor (Crowe CO) attached a formal emphasis-of-matter paragraph to the Q4 2024 consolidated accounts, citing the COP 171 billion (US$50 mn) net loss and asking readers to note management’s business-continuity plans. That flag stays until the balance sheet is repaired.
• Debt reduction: Management has committed to using asset sale proceeds to pay down secured debt; the pace of that deleveraging will set the tone for 2025 and 2026 earnings.
• New contract backlog: The auditor noted that management’s continuity case rests on winning new projects and growing the construction order book. Colombia’s infrastructure pipeline — including remaining 4G and emerging 5G highway concessions — is the variable to track.
• Share price: The stock hit an all-time high of COP 1,690 (US$0.50)in September 2014 and an all-time low of COP 450 (US$0.13)in May 2025, a decline of 73% from peak — reflecting years of thin margins, heavy debt and concession losses. At ~COP 520, (US$0.15)the market is pricing in significant risk.

This is news, not investment advice.