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 COLAS
GROUPE
World Leader in road construction and maintenance
Since 1929, Colas has been living, growing, and
developing around the world by building the highways,
freeways, roads and tracks that help people come
together.
Mr.
Alain Dupont
President of COLAS,
Colas is a dynamic, high-performance group, backed by
its 53,000 employees who work day in and day out on
projects in every field of the road industry.
Colas’ key asset can be found in its development
strategy: over the last ten years, the group has tripled
its sales, making Colas the world leader.
From north to south and east to west, Colas will
maintain its leading position because roads are a
necessity. Even new technologies – despite their growing
importance - can not counter this formidable instrument
of liberty.
Colas paves the way for
your life.
Colas est implanté sur tous les continents, dans plus
d’une quarantaine de pays, à travers un réseau de 1200
établissements.
The Colas Group operates in every road-related industry,
from transport infrastructure to the wide range of
activities linked to the transformation and use of
bitumen.
Backed by its 1200 profit centers, Colas works on every
continent in over 40 countries.
Roads
Roads
make up 82% of the Group’s activity.
This sector includes the construction of roads,
highways, airports, automobile race tracks, etc.
along with major industrial activities.
In 2002, Colas produced:
• 89.7 million tons of aggregates
• 1.5 million tons of emulsions and binders
• 53.4 million tons of asphalt mix
Other businesses
 •
safety, signs, signals, traffic management
• civil engineering, pipes, mains, electricity
• waterproofing
• building
• railways
• pollution clean-up
Colas boasts some 55,800 employees, half of whom work
outside of France.
In 2002, Colas posted turnover totalling some €7.6
billion.
Net profit totaled €208 million
For more than 70 years...
 D1922:
Invention of the first bitumen emulsion designed
specifically for road surfacing – called Cold Asphalt –
that gave Colas its name in 1929.
For more than 70 years, the history of Colas and the
history of roads have followed the same path. At the
beginning of the 1920s, two English chemists - Hugh Alan
Mackay and George Samuel Hay - discover the first
bitumen emulsion.
The "Cold Asphalt" patent was contracted to give way to
the name "Colas" and is used for the first time in
France by SGE in 1924. The process goes on to enjoy
rapid development.
In 1925, the product is used to build the Montlhéry
racetrack.
In 1929, Royal Dutch Shell bought a stake that led to
the creation of a subsidiary called "Société routière
Colas". The next few decades bear witness to the
strength of a diversified, balanced group that has made
global development one of its main assets.
In 1970, Colas took its first foothold in North America
with the purchase of Canadian-based Sintra. At the
beginning of the 1980s, the acquisition of Grand Travaux
de l’Est is the starting point for Colas’
diversification into the fields of civil engineering and
building.
At the same time, Colas celebrates its first project in
Asia with the Jakarta Airport site.
In 1993, the Group reinforces its market positions
through the acquisition of several companies:
SACER
and its subsidiaries, along with
SPAC.
Since 1994, Colas has tightened its international
network in Europe, North America and Asia, namely by
acquiring the Colas companies that had remained under
the control of Royal Dutch Shell and the other Colas
trademarks around the world. Today, Colas is pursuing
its development strategy with external growth in its
core business sector.
The arrival of
SCREG
in 1996 has enabled the group to form the world’s leader
in the road industry.
The acquisition of
SMAC
in 1999 and SECO-RAIL have led the group to diversity
into the fields of waterproofing and railroad
works.Depuis plus de soixante-dix ans, l’histoire de
Colas se confond avec celle de la route.
Au début des années vingt, deux chimistes anglais, Hugh
Alan Mackay et George Samuel Hay mettent au point la
première émulsion de bitume. Le brevet "Cold Asphalt",
dont est issu par contraction le nom de Colas, est
exploité en France par la SGE en 1924. Le procédé se
développe rapidement.
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