Vinci boss also worries about increased taxation on large companies

"It's so easy to do nothing much on spending for a few decades and then realize, when you're up against the wall, that you're at an impasse and then go and get the money where it's easier to get it, which is the pockets of large, visible companies," he said during the presentation of the group's annual results.

"Is this doing our country's economy a service in the long term? The answer is obviously no," said Mr. Huillard, who is preparing to hand over the reins of general management of the construction and energy group this spring.

The exceptional contribution on the profits of large companies announced in the 2025 budget to help reduce France's public deficit "is a tax which effectively taxes people who have made the effort to produce in France," he continued.

For Vinci, it represents an additional cost estimated at "around 400 million euros", the group indicates.

In 2024, the French construction giant recorded net profit up 3,4% to 4,8 billion euros, boosted by its airports and energy activities. Its turnover increased by 4% to 71 billion euros.

Mr. Huillard thus joins the chorus of bosses who denounce a taxation of "made in France", such as the CEO of LVMH, Bernard Arnault, or that of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné.

However, "if this tax remained one-off, it would not be very serious, what is one-off can be absorbed. I have a little doubt as to whether in this country, in the coming year, we will make enough gestures on work, on spending so as to allow us to no longer have to renew a one-off tax like that," noted Mr. Huillard.

He also warned of the industrial consequences of this taxation, while stressing that France remained a key country for Vinci, particularly in terms of investments.

"We are very attached to France, you see that we still do more than 40% of our business there, it is there where we experiment, it is there where we develop new professions before possibly exporting them. It is there where we still invest enormously," he recalled.

"But nevertheless, in the industrial world in particular and in particular electro-intensive manufacturers, it is true that we cannot prevent a certain number of people from saying to themselves that perhaps, if they have an investment to make, it is perhaps better to do it outside France than in France," he said.

As for the standards, it is necessary to temporize, he judged. "What is needed is above all to stop. We need stability and we need to see clearly and to know effectively which standards must be applied without having to ask ourselves the question each year of knowing what additional standards are going to be imposed on us."