Good morning to you one and all. Thank you for spending a part of the morning with us, in spite of the fact of some competition in the financial market right now with results. First of all, the customary exercise, and of course, you'll have an opportunity to ask all your questions, because we've kept our executive committee with us, present in the room today, including Jocelyne. She's here, Jocelyne, our new HR manager, who came on board exactly three weeks ago. First of all, since it's always more fun this way, let's look at some pictures. This is the Salvador da Bahia Airport. Just to get you interested, whet your appetite, and motivate you to go there. It's an airport. We won this one, you'll remember. We upgraded it, extended it. We raised the environmental parameters in terms of waste processing, water processing, in many different areas, improvements.
In fact, at the time, this was emphasized by the Brazilian authorities, for that matter. President Bolsonaro was to come to the inauguration, but unfortunately, he had a slight health problem, so the transport minister attended the inauguration in his stead. That was only possible because VINCI Airports was highly mobilized on site, of course, but also because they were supported by Synergy with the Brazilian subsidiary that is very familiar with this territory. They partnered together with a builder from Portugal, making it possible to really hit the ground running and do the whole CapEx operation in a record time. The second slide we look at here is an illustration of one of the components, not the only component necessarily, of the low-carbon motorway concept, which VINCI Autoroutes is rolling out now.
You can see on the slide here, this is a carpool parking lot, so people can meet up in the parking lot near the motorway before then carpooling it to their destinations. We have a funny picture. Interesting one. This is in Saskatchewan. There's a story about Saskatchewan. When you lose your dog, you can follow it for 48 hours. You can watch it for 48 hours, and because it's so flat, you can watch it walking away. It was very cold. You can see how cold it was, you can see the tents and so forth. We got a speech in a language we weren't familiar with, by the Native American Indians. He had a cigarette pack in his hand, which was a symbol of peace, and he also lit some peace candles for this opening.
What was also very nice was the Prime Minister of Saskatchewan, after the speeches and ribbon cutting, then took the wheel of this truck you see at the front here, and he actually drove that truck himself. Try to imagine that happening here. He led the procession that way. An illustration of VINCI Energies' involvement in producing renewable energy. This is solar energy here we're seeing, of course. An interesting picture. This is a new innovation. Next picture here. Innovation by Eurovia. It's a robot, so an automated, autonomous vehicle that can therefore very safely do horizontal markings or road marking on motorway or highway sections. The next slide here. This picture, I hope, is meaningful to you. This is the end of the civil engineering work of the amazing ITER project in France. Very much internationally financed.
This is the first stage in a very ambitious program designed to develop energy from nuclear fusion, which would mean on Earth to reproduce the mechanisms that take place on the face of the sun. This project, ITER, should be producing, generating power in 2025-ish. If all works out, it would run for around 10 years, then they'd perfect the first series, a more industrial-type series of facility using the technique based on Einstein's E equals mc squared. The first series then will come online midway through the century, this century. If this works out as what's been seen in laboratory observations, then it would mean mankind would have energy available to it that would be almost limitless using fusion, which means transforming material into energy. It's colossal. It's amazing. It's happening in France. It's international cooperation. It's a real first in this area.
There are tens of billions involved here. We're working with other European businesses here, and we've been involved in the civil engineering for this flagship project that we'll be hearing about in upcoming decades. A beautiful example here of VINCI Immobilier know-how. Project near the La Défense ring road. It's a building that we bought, and then we completely restructured, refurbished it, also revamped the energy facilities here, and then we sold it. Those are just a few illustrations of things we worked on in 2019. 2019 was a good year, a very good year, in fact. First of all, we saw solid growth. We'll go into some detail. Growth in business and in order intake. That gives us a good visibility to the year 2020. We had good motorway traffic at our toll points. Still very good airport traffic as well. All this leads to the following slide.
Operating income and net income, which are up strongly, and this is very good news in recent weeks of COVID-19. Excellent free cash flow up by around EUR 1 billion compared to what we saw in free cash flow in 2018. Christian, of course, will come back to the point in greater detail, both on the other figures. Beyond these economic results, we have to emphasize the major work that was done in all of our divisions and business lines throughout 2019, enabling us a few weeks ago to decrease by 40% our CO2 emissions, our scopes. We are in controls scopes 1 and 2. CO2 emissions will be cut by 40% by 2030, which brings us right in line with COP21, which means a future whereby we can decrease the increase of temperature by the end of the century by under two degrees. All of our geographies are seeing growth.
That's fairly encouraging. You see Europe's doing well, especially France. France is almost all organic growth, boosted in France by activities in the region around Paris and the Greater Paris project, plus all the other property operations, more or less thanks to Greater Paris. Also, we'd say that once again, we have a large number of towers, office towers being built and some being completed, particularly in the La Défense neighborhood. Another highlight, strong growth in North America. Of course, this is a full year effect of acquisitions that we made in 2018, especially VINCI Energies, PrimeLine, and Eurovia, taking over activities from Plants and Paving, the Lane Construction company. Something we said to you a year ago, we could tell Africa was very much resuming growth. We saw this in order intakes in 2018. This is further confirmed.
Activity on the African continent up by almost 20% in 2019. Further detail, French motorways, heavy vehicle traffic resumed well in the last few weeks of the year. To some degree, this was expected, but some of it unexpected. We knew that the baseline effect from December 2018 was extremely low because there had been some social unrest that took place back then, you can recall, throughout the country, and particularly in the motorway networks. Something that was less expected was the carryover effect due to the railway strikes that led more traffic, more users to the motorways than we'd expected. All in all, this is why we were able to come out with good 2019, save 2019, so to speak. Also with some other parameters that impacted, the bad weather and then the heat wave and so forth, for many different reasons.
Up until the very last weeks of 2019, the year hadn't been on the trajectory of growth of 2.8%. Another highlight for VINCI Autoroutes, work on the Strasbourg bypass, which is going forward apace. Explaining why VINCI Autoroutes' CapEx for 2019 reaching EUR 800 million. This includes the CapEx for the major infrastructure, the Strasbourg bypass, which should be completed during 2021. More daily considerations. VINCI Autoroutes, a lot of work being done to prepare for new uses, prepare the infrastructure for that usage, such as autonomous mobility, connected and shared mobility. Infrastructures that are fostering carpooling. I alluded to that earlier. Working on developing AI bases and digital services, such as the Ulys concept, which you all have on your iPhones, such as the multimodal comparator or the mobility assistant. VINCI Autoroutes also launched a new concept, which is ABC low-carbon motorway.
The idea is to reduce the impact of the motorway, for instance, by using separate carpool lanes and transport lanes, also by developing a whole offer of non-carbon recharging stations throughout the highway network. By way of illustration, currently, we have around 250 recharging stations throughout our VINCI Autoroutes network. That includes the ramp-up of 400 recharging stations. This will mean, if we calculate this, every recharge station for electric vehicles approximately every some 80 kilometers, this will help motivate people to actually use an electric vehicle. To decide whether it's worth it for them to buy an electric vehicle. They will know they'll be able to travel throughout the country and find a recharge station where they need one, especially if they're using the VINCI Autoroutes motorway system. We will be able to produce our own electricity carbon-free for the fueling of these stations.
We have programs and projects to roll out solar panels to the various unused motorway spaces. This is land next to our motorway network that is not actually used as such for lanes, and we can therefore place other things on that land, such as installing facilities for renewable energy. VINCI Airports continues to be dynamic. Without going through all the % of growth, just a couple of figures on the left, 6.9% growth in Portugal. In Portugal, we managed 60 million passengers, 8% in France, driven by good performance in Lyon and Nantes. 5.7% growth in Chile, that's good. Over 7% growth in Japan. We're now managing via our airport platform there, 60 million passengers in Japan. 9.2% growth in Belgrade. That's good news. You'll remember that had been an airport that we covered very recently.
It's always great from the very start to see strong traffic growth, driven of course by our proactiveness in developing some new routes and so forth. All in all, last year we'll have managed 255 million passengers on all of our airports, which means that we're the number one airport operator, no doubt about it. We're the most diversified one, with 45 airports located in 12 different countries. Furthermore, we've been very active at VINCI Airports to develop new routes. Last year, we opened 325 new air routes, origins and destinations. This is one thing that's distinctive at VINCI Airports versus other similar players. We're highly protective to develop new air routes, where we know the airlines very well. A very interesting thing, out of the 325 new routes, 51 of them are long-haul routes, such as Osaka-London and Santiago-Barcelona, that are very interesting for many different reasons.
Managed revenue, which means taking 100% of the airports where we are in control or joint control with some partners. Managed revenue at VINCI Airports is EUR 4.9 billion. This is an important figure. You have to compare this with the figure of VINCI Autoroutes, EUR 5.6 billion on the previous slide. We're not quite there yet, but slowly but surely, the proportion of VINCI Airports in terms of volume is managed, starts to be comparable to the proportion we have in airports. We've seen a big increase in the figures, EUR 2.6 billion for consolidated revenue. We see the impact of various things we did in recent years, such as the Airports Worldwide airport groups in the portfolio, Belgrade. Also, of course, Gatwick, which is a big chunk of the increase in revenue there. VINCI Airports continues to roll out its investments in innovation policy for all the stakeholders.
There is also passengers who improve passenger experience and ease of transit through airports. Focusing on airlines, helping them be more productive and efficient. Focusing on the local governments and territories. That's also distinctive for us. We've got the true ability to work hand in hand as partners with all the various governments, local governments, through various arrangements, such as in Lyon, where we're also fortunate to have various local governments that are at our side, jointly investing in capital. Other concessions, mainly VINCI Railways and VINCI Highways. Some concessions continue developing well. 6% in traffic. This is basically our assets in Greece. Strong growth in Lima, Peru, thanks to the opening of section two of our urban motorway concession. Growth, 8% growth, very interesting here. The first section of the Moscow-St. Petersburg was opened a few years ago with a traffic risk.
Initially, the startup was a little bit difficult, but now is on track. As you also know, we opened sections seven and eight, Terminal 1 and 2. These are terminals near St. Petersburg side opened by President Putin a few weeks ago. Another highlight, confirmation of the success of our high-speed line. There'd be traffic risk there, the high-speed rail line, SEA. We've won the wager there. This is the second high-speed rail line that's most used in France. Last year, we'll have carried around 20 million passengers on that line. Now to look more specifically and quickly at contracting business, starting with VINCI Energies. VINCI Energies gave us a record year. Solid organic growth, 6.5% France, 4.6% outside of France. All in all, this is the full year effect of acquisitions, fairly numerous, made in 2018, among others.
The PrimeLine deal in the U.S., plus beginning of effects from the 34 small and medium-sized acquisitions carried out in 2019, which aren't always reflected for the full year 2019. They brought in extra revenue, order EUR 300 million extra a year. That should continue in 2020 for the full year effect. No major operations such as we may have had in progress last year, but a large quantity of bolt-on acquisitions. VINCI Energies has been doing bolt acquisition for a fair few years now. An important highlight, continuing growth in operating margin at VINCI Energies, now going beyond 6% EBIT margin. Another important point, international share of VINCI Energies. International business is 55% now versus 45% French activity. 2020 is looking good when we look at the quality and quantity of deals won in 2019 that'll be carried out in 2020.
The clear point is VINCI Energies is very fortunate to be well-positioned in the two major areas, i.e., the digital revolution and energy transition. These are the main drivers for the virtuous growth of VINCI Energies. In a 10-year period, we'll have basically seen a threefold increase in the size of VINCI Energies, and we're convinced that things aren't over with yet. Eurovia, wonderful performance, strictly 8.5% organic growth in France. We expected this. We didn't expect it quite this strong. We see the pre-municipal elections, the run-up period. This is usual effect. Regarding top line and revenue, it's a full-year effect of acquisitions made in 2018, specifically P&P in Canada, as well as the plant and painting division from Lane Construction that I already mentioned earlier. Virtuous growth because at the same time, Eurovia is improving its margin, now going well beyond the 4% mark.
Eurovia continues to develop internationally. 46% of its activity is international. Remainder in France. Like VINCI Energies, it had such good order intake in 2019 that we can feel 2020 should also be a very good year in France. Our thinking is it'd be a great thing if things were flat after the municipal elections. Usually, there's a sort of downtick after municipal elections. That downtick this time shouldn't be as substantial as in previous election cycles. We think that things should remain fairly flat in France in 2020, which would be a good thing. Internationally, we'll continue to see growth. My feeling, I'll talk about it at the end of my talk, our feeling is that yes, we'll continue to grow, of course, not at the same growth rates, tangible growth rates as we had in 2019. VINCI Construction now.
VINCI Construction also saw dynamic activity with good organic growth. You can see it on the slide. Its strength, among other things, is supported by ramp-ups at the Paris region job sites, not only especially thanks to Grand Paris Express, also very good activity in Central Europe, in the U.K., in Asia, Oceania, and especially in Africa. I touched upon this earlier. Africa was there. It's producing growth. Our Major Projects Division, you remember it was sort of in a trough last year. We'd seen the completion of some major deals without having really secured new major deals. Now we have. We've secured, we've won some new great contracts in the U.S., in Canada, in New Zealand, in the United Kingdom, which leads us to believe the Major Projects Division will resume growth in the next few months and years.
Watch point continues to be the same one, oil and gas activity. Oil is still very depressed. Not much CapEx available in the oil market. Much less than in previous years. Things are going fairly well-ish in gas. We've made do. We won some pipeline deals in gas and liquefied natural gas, one in Canada, and also a deal, or two new cryogenic reservoir tanks. NOVATEK, you're familiar, we'd already built four cryogenic tanks built on permafrost. We negotiated directly with NOVATEK, the client, for two additional tanks, which will be putting in Entrepose Contracting. Entrepose Contracting is in a fragile state for well-known reasons that have been discussed for quite some time. The overall market remains depressed. This is one of the explanations for the slight dip in our operating income for the entire construction division in 2019.
The harvest of the order intake, VINCI Construction 2019 was very good. Very good indeed. We're confident in activity for 2020. Two things to keep an eye on. First of all, activity in France. I want to make sure we're very aware of this. There are two main regions in France, I mean, types of regions, those that are sort of overheating and other regions that are still lacking to some degree. We mustn't just gauge France via the prism of the Paris region. In the other regions, activity is somewhat fragile and has to be right-sized to account for local markets. That's the first watch point. Second thing to keep an eye on, we'll continue working to improve our margins further in VINCI Construction. Now let's talk about property. VINCI Immobilier, very good year.
VINCI Immobilier, a year ago, I probably said that our thinking was we'd reached a peak in terms of reservations and sales of housing and that things would start to go down slightly. There was no dip. We're basically at the same level of reservations and sales as in 2018. This is because housing needs remain high in France. We're seeing continuous low interest rates. A lot of people, instead of having problems with stock exchange, they decide to invest in property. Good activity as well if you look at business property, offices, and hotels, especially in Paris. It was focused in Paris, also other major cities. We talked about this probably already.
Major Projects Division finalized in January 2019, the first stage in acquisition of the company called Urbat, which will position us in the south of the country and also in a sequence of property development, which includes controlled price housing units. I'll hand over to Christian now.
Good morning to you all. Revenue, as we said, will top the EUR 48 billion mark in 2019. That's a 10% increase, of which 5% in organic growth. It's the highest organic growth rate that we've achieved these past few years. The last time, dates back to 2011, it reached 6.4%. It's of the same order and the slide between concessions and contracting. M&A, leaving aside VINCI Immobilier up 20%, which is a consequence of apartment sales these past few years. There's a lag between the booking and the delivery of these apartments. M&A, EUR 2 billion, give or take, additional revenue. That's about EUR 400 million, the impact in 2019 of M&A in 2018. PrimeLine, Wah Loon, VINCI Energies, Belgrade, OAK, and some acquisitions by Eurovia, the first two in airports. The other EUR 1.7 of the M&A deals in 2019 include a deal by Eurovia in the U.S.
2019 explained for some EUR 600 million additional revenue. Gatwick, EUR 700 million consolidated since May 15 last year, and 30 deals at VINCI Energies for revenue on the year, about EUR 300 million. Full year, Gatwick would have been close to EUR 1 billion, and acquisitions by VINCI Energies, about additional EUR 800 million. We'll have those impacts coming into 2020. Forex, slightly positive, the result of a slight decrease of the euro versus major currencies, U.S. dollar, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc, or sterling. By geography, France, as you can see, growth was essentially organic, 6.1% out of a total of 6.2%. Very good formation finish of all our units. VINCI Airports, 8%. VINCI Energies, plus 6%. VINCI Autoroutes, plus 4%. VINCI Construction, 4.6%. VINCI Immobilier, up 19.3%. International, plus 16%. M&A accounts for over 10%, thanks to deals cited a moment ago.
If we look by country, countries that grew the most in 2019 are Belgium, Portugal, Czech Republic, Sweden, and grand international, the U.S., Canada, Africa, Australia, New Zealand. The share of France in this context, in spite of sustained activity, shrinks year after year, was slightly flat, 55% in 2019. Moving back to 50% is a consequence of our proactive expansion policy internationally, needs to be flat. Outside Europe, we now achieve 18% of our revenues against 16% in 2018. That's EUR 8.6 billion. Let me feed 8.6. EUR 2.2 billion achieved in the U.S., our third largest international country after U.K. and Germany, topping EUR 3 billion, and Canada with EUR 1 billion. EBIT, up close on 15%. That's a margin of 11.9% as against 11.5% last year. Let me see. There's a question was put. IFRS 16 barely impacts these numbers, these trends. The group's performance is remarkable.
Almost all business lines have improved their contribution. It's the case for concessions, EUR 560 million, up 16%. Contracting, EUR 101 million, up 12%. In concessions, the growth comes from VINCI Autoroutes, up EUR 280 million, VINCI Airports, up EUR 327 million. VINCI Autoroutes, the increase reflects the increase in revenue and attractive cost control, favorable baseline effect with industrial action at the end of 2018, and insurance indemnity, I mentioned this when we disclosed the quarterlies, that we obtained it partially offset the impact of the euro. VINCI Airports, the increase incorporates Gatwick for some EUR 270 million, a consequence of the traffic increase in Portugal and France inter alia. Margin rate of VINCI Airports slightly, but that's fully due to the different mix because every airport has its own specific features, and given applicable regulation, margin rates vary from one airport to another, from country to country.
In particular, Gatwick has a margin rate of 38.3% 2019, slightly below the previous rate of VINCI Airports. That doesn't incorporate value creation expected across the various airports. Contracting, VINCI Energies, as Xavier said, top 6%. That's an improvement if we calculate it down to the EUR 0.01. At 25 basis points shows the ability of VINCI Energies to boost its profitability, not just in its historic units, and that answers comments made by some of you, its ability to successfully integrate in France and overseas new acquisitions. Furthermore, we had some M&A at VINCI Energies at EBIT rates above 6%, not to mention the value creation potential. Eurovia margin improvement exceeds 4.2%, placing the unit at the high end of the industry. Improved performance in France, Europe, and in America. The integration of Lane Paving is going very well in the U.S.
We now achieve over EUR 1 billion in revenue on the West Coast for Eurovia, making it one of the leaders in the area. America accounts 17% of Eurovia in 2019 as against 11% previously. VINCI Construction, slight dip in the margin. Let me say immediately, you probably doubt this, that this dip was far more marked in the H1. We recovered well going into H2. Most of the units are posting good performance with the exception, as Xavier said, of oil and gas of Entrepose. We see that it's set to recover in terms of its order book. We've brought some fine orders in. Good performance in the U.K. Margin exceeds 2%, one of the best performance given the characteristics of the market over there. 3% Solétanche Bachy are 4.4%.
Major projects around 3% were at a low point, and that's going to correct soon with the new deals coming in. Only Vinci Construction France remains rather disappointing below 2%. If we compare the two halves, the derivative is now positive, and we hope that VCF will improve its contribution in 2020. All in all, the unit's on the right track in retrieving its ignite performance, and efforts undertaken should pay off as of this year. Decrease in the margin of VINCI Immobilier at 6% is due to the fact there's scarcity of land in France. It's getting difficult to find land. That's a raw material of real estate, whereas at the same time, work costs tend to rise.
Next slide gives you the income statement, starting with recurring operating income, where we see the impact of IFRS 2 share-based payments reflected in the accounts, the impact of the incentive plans for our employees, share-based payments, be it performance shares or the savings plan. I think Xavier will speak to that in a moment. We did a special transaction in December, paying a top-up of EUR 400 to all our employees, so they become shareholders. They're all VINCI shareholders. That was EUR 400 million. That accounts for part of the gap between the two years. We also need to mention in the positive, the upside, the contribution of our equity accounted affiliates has increased in Japan, Kansai, and Qatar. We booked some provisions last year, which didn't prove necessary once again this year.
The non-recurring items are various bits and pieces, nothing major, some goodwill impairments, but also some losses on disposal, but also some capital gains. Last year, we had some upside. We had a positive impact to one-off on the reconsolidation of Gefyra, of the bridge in Greece. The financials that I still don't see on my screen, I hope you've got them. The financial, EUR 180 million half is due to the increase in net financial expense. This increase in net financial expenses, of course, due to our M&A deals that need to be financed, and we incorporate in our numbers those that were targets, the case for Gatwick that has a debt of GBP 4 billion and Belgrade Airport. If we add all these effects, it weighs on financial expense. Fortunately, we were able to optimize the cost of debt.
Euro continued to decline in 2019 through the various bond issues. More of that in a moment. 1.7% down to 1.3% on a weighted average basis. We have fewer financial expenses capitalized in our current investments because the second section of the Lima Autoroute was delivered last year. We don't capitalize the financial expense on that investment. We still do it on the Strasbourg Ring Road, purely non-cash on discounting provisions. When rates decrease, provisions must be adjusted. That's an expense in the P&L. Next, tax expense. Tax is up from EUR 1.4 billion- EUR 1.6 billion. That as it should be given the hike in the bottom line. The rate has increased from 32%- 33.8%, primarily due to the fact that in 2018, we benefited still from the tax credit for competitiveness and labor tax credits.
A tax credit is nontaxable by definition. The CICE was replaced with the same amount by reduction of payroll taxes on low wages with subject to tax. There's an increase both in the amount of the tax rate stemming from that. All in all, it's worth keeping, we sometimes forget this, VINCI pays in France on their corporate tax EUR 1.2 billion, to which we must add about the same amount in various taxes that are included in earnings. About EUR 2.3 billion in taxes paid by VINCI. We could add VAT on our French activities, EUR 5.3 billion in payroll taxes. That's about EUR 8 billion that VINCI contributes to the economy and the finances of the French state. Net income is close to EUR 3.3 billion.
That's an increase of some 9% to be found fully in the EPS because we eliminated all dilution by buying shares on par with those that we create. It's a year, I think, that's commendable, if not very good. Let's look at the free cash flow. This chart that you all know explains the variation in the financial debt year on year, up EUR 6.1 billion. The highlight this year is the level of free cash flow defined as being EBITDA corrected for changes in working capital, requirement, current provisions, financial expenses, tax, CapEx, be they current or non-current. For the first time, we exceed the EUR 4 billion mark. Last year, I think we were at EUR 3.2 billion, EUR 1 billion free cash flow over and above last year, which was beyond what we expected. EBITDA EUR 8.5 million.
There's a star missing on the slide because we put a star next to CapEx, not next to EBITDA. In 8.5, there's an IFRS 16, the integration of leases in our accounts. We increase EBITDA. We have CapEx that offset that hike to the tune of EUR 575 million. If we correct that effect, the increase of EBITDA is close to 15% versus last year. If we correct still further the Gatwick impact, integration of Gatwick in this figure, we have an EBITDA increase close on 10%, which is pretty good with an EBITDA excluding IFRS 16 that comes at 16.5% on revenue, two-thirds of EBITDA generated by concessions, that's EUR 5.8 billion. VINCI Autoroutes EUR 4.2 billion, VINCI Airports EUR 1.5 billion, and other concessions of just under EUR 200 million. Contracting and real estate contribute over EUR 2.5 billion group EBITDA. VINCI Energies EUR 1.1 billion here, VINCI Construction close on EUR 700 million each.
Other good news is the change in working capital requirement, including current provisions, which is in kind of over EUR 400 million, whereas last year we spent. That's an improvement of the year, EUR 700 million. It's improvement to be found above all in Contracting. Contracting improved WCR by almost EUR 900 million. Concessions, essentially real estate hosting decrease. Real estate, major land acquisitions undertaken in 2019. At the end of the year, we bought a building for EUR 100 million and building that we revamped and that we're going to resell immediately. Taxes, financial expenses up for the what disbursed by EUR 300 million. In January 2018, we cashed in EUR 120 under the partial reimbursement of the tax on dividends. We received part in 2017, the balance in 2019. The figure was flat in 2018. That contributes to the gap EUR 300 million. CapEx EUR 2.9 billion.
IFRS 16 , actually EUR 2.3 billion, up by EUR 350 million on that. EUR 350 million increase, half stems from the integration of Gatwick CapEx. Gatwick is not a concession, but full ownership of Gatwick CapEx fall under that item. Investments by our concessions close on EUR 1.1 billion, EUR 800 million for VINCI Highways, the Strasbourg Ring Road for over EUR 200 million, the Belém VINCI Airport primarily in Brazil, mentioned by Xavier, the new Salvador terminal for EUR 3 million, Cambodia EUR 40 million, in Portugal. Free cash flow EUR 4.2 billion, EUR 1 billion more than last year. Next. Increase in free cash flow of EUR 1 billion, VINCI Energies EUR 300 million, VINCI Concessions EUR 360 million. Good formation finish explaining the increase in free cash flow. New acquisitions, EUR 7.7 billion, Gatwick out of EUR 8.3 billion. The balance actually deals by VINCI Energies that I mentioned earlier. Dividend, not much to add.
Share buybacks, I mentioned those. All that leading to debt up less than expected at EUR 21.7 billion. Next slide, we compare net income with free cash flow. We can talk about the way of doing, crunching the numbers. Not everyone does the same calculation. Here we've done it the same way over the past five years to show the trend. Good trend for the past three years and way above the 100% market. Next slide, balance sheet. Obviously, major developments in 2019 reflected capital employed. Pure coincidence of the number topping EUR 50 billion as against EUR 38.3 last year with a major impact by Gatwick, but also other investments made by concessions units. Equity up by EUR 3 billion and debt, as we saw, up 6%. This debt is split between debt of EUR 23 billion, up EUR 7.2 billion, and managed cash of EUR 1.4 billion up over last year.
There's EUR 6.8, EUR 4.2 billion are managed centrally at the holding company. There was cash in foreign affiliates at the end of December. They weren't pushed up to the holding. The case of VINCI as a holding tops the EUR 4.2 billion mark. Next slide. Financial policy, we're extremely active in 2019, the first part of the year on the bonds, raising EUR 4.6 billion new debt, average maturity of 12 years, longer than what we did previously. Average cost barely above 2% after hedging. These funds benefited from very favorable market context, facilitated by our credit rating shown on the left. Outlook positive at S&P. One day they may decide to upgrade it. They upgrade us, we'll see. At the same time, we reimbursed longstanding loans costing us far more, EUR 1.5 billion at 5%. Next. Optimization of average cost of debt.
We managed to reduce it year after year. This year it's not been the case, but almost in spite of the fact that on the one hand, we had to go into debt and currency for our M&A deals in the U.S. and the U.K., but we integrated the cost of debt of our targets, notably that of Gatwick. Gatwick was already borrowing GBP 4 billion at a cost that was markedly higher than which VINCI can access. That's reflected in the chart below because up till 2018, the bulk of our debt was in EUR. It's less than 60% in EUR. Obviously, EUR is the cheapest. Other currencies cost more. In spite of that, we have a cost of debt that remains pretty almost flat. Lastly, to end. Fixed rates, floating variable rates. I won't rehearse the explanation that I give you every time.
This is how we've been able to drive down our cost of debt year after year. We keep some of our gross debt at a floating rate. It's a little less marked at the end of 2019 than previously. This is actually due to the fact that we set part of our debt, a one-year debt. In fact, it's a fixed floating. It's short-term fixed rate, but we stick to the principle that we set the part of our debt that matches our treasury cash surpluses because they're invested short-term. We also try to have that floating rate at the equivalent of a year's EBITDA. That's how we arrive at these charts, which over time have proved to be a good strategy, even if we challenge it. Nothing's set in stone, and we discuss it regularly amongst ourselves with the financial teams. Thank you.
Yes. That's good. Let me just wrap up and talk to you briefly about corporate social and environmental responsibility 2020 and contracting. I talked to the order book, and we'll see here, that's also not customary, fairly unusual. Increase in the order book of 10%. That makes the 2019 harvest of order intake. This is true in all of our business lines, and it's also true in all of our geographies. Everything up. It's not like that every single year. Please look at the slide again. Look at the slide again, seeing the uptick everywhere. The expectation is growth in construction will continue in 2020. Of course, growth rates won't be as strong as those observed in 2019. In concessions, still very difficult to predict.
We think motorway traffic should grow in line with economic growth, assuming there aren't further unforeseen events that could disturb the correlation between economic growth and traffic growth for motorways. Growth at VINCI Airports, but the comparison base is now very high, so the growth will be less than in 2019. There's a question mark, of course, not as strong for us as for others. Nonetheless, there is a question mark. Necessarily, there will contribute an impact. Here, I'm thinking of the impact of the coronavirus. Briefly to come in on that point, if we tally up the Chinese travelers who transit through our airports, we're talking about a proportion of around 5.5%. 5.5% of our 255 million passengers are going to or coming from China. It's important. This is visible in this figure, but a smallish proportion.
Mainly, these travelers are transiting through Cambodia, where a large portion of Chinese travelers are, and also Japan. A lot of Chinese tourists going to Japan. When I say China, I'm also including Hong Kong and Macau. Nobody can predict how the coronavirus will evolve, it would be early days now, too early to do any actual forecasting on change. We can't quantify anything except that in our businesses, barely a modest impact for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we're almost not active at all in China in our core business. We have very low dependence on China in terms of sourcing materials, supplies, and the airport figures I've just given you. For all these reasons, we believe that all in all, at VINCI in 2020, we should see growth in revenue again and growth in net income.
With all this data in mind, the board of directors met yesterday and decided to submit to the next shareholders meeting a resolution on paying a dividend of EUR 3.05 per share. EUR 0.79 was already paid in November of 2019. You observe this is an increase of 14% versus the dividend last year. Merely because the payout ratio, which generally was around 50%, has gone up slightly to reach 52.5%. I wanted to make last couple of points. We all have to get accustomed to this, and I wanted to wrap up by saying this. Our account results aren't the only thing this is about. For quite some time, we've felt we have to look at overall performance, comprehensive performance. We've got this outlined in our manifesto now. It's summarized on this slide.
This is contained, this is to be seen in all of our offices, in all our concessions, all of our production sites, in all geographies. This is a summary of what we feel is comprehensive overall performance. The good news is we're making progress in all of these areas. In the area of safety, currently, 72% of our business units did not have any accident with lost time in 2019. We've reduced, which we've done for many years now, the frequency rate, which is one way of measuring our efforts in the area of training, organization, design, enhancing job site safety. We've made progress in safety. We've also made progress in the area of diversity, mostly gender diversity. Our target is, in the short term, to go up to 25% proportion of female managers in our global geographies.
The difficulty is we're starting from a very low proportion for various historical and cultural reasons in our various business functions. It's not easy. At least, without having to teach, I want to say we are tackling this subject in a determined fashion. We're also making progress in the area of sharing the benefits of our good performance. If you calculate everything we pay out, different products, different systems of profit sharing, different employee profit sharing systems, by the way, there are various collective profit sharing systems for employees. If we also take into account everything we propose to our employees via employee shareholder plan Castor, which has been rolled out, and 90% of our employees are eligible for this globally.
If we count all that plus additional pensions for some of our employees, such as the low earners, we end up with a figure which is significant, i.e., EUR 470 million we fund in one way or another through these various arrangements to our employees. We're also making progress in another area. We're already well-established. It's well-established in our corporate culture. Societal responsibility. What we're proudest of in 2019 is the successful launch, and this will be an ongoing endeavor, of an operation we're calling Give Me Five. Every year, Give Me Five enables us to welcome 5,000 youngsters, high schoolers, all of them coming from priority education areas throughout France. We've focused on around 10 priority education areas in France.
In each of these areas, every year, we take 500 high schoolers, and they get a one-week internship, a strong focus on learning where they discover what the business world's about. They discover our business lines. We show them accountants, people in communication, people in production, workers, supervisors, managers, and so forth. Discover, often for the very first time, these various points in a company. That's part of our societal responsibility. To go find these youngsters where they are in locations where they don't have a personal network enabling them to access this information and gain this type of experience, which will be fundamental for them to build their lives. This has been very successful. This year, we'll reach our target of 5,000 youngsters. That's an enormous figure. We're really rolling out this program for high schoolers and middle schoolers. Our target is to accommodate 5,000 of them every year.
There are other components in this Give Me Five program. There's one chapter which seems fairly simple, but isn't. This is the idea that we're also bringing in for summer jobs, summertime jobs, and internships. At least 20% of these interns will be coming from these priority education areas, these difficult neighborhoods. People who are studying and who live in these priority education areas are people who don't have an actual network at their fingertips. We need to assist these people so that they can come into companies such as ours. Previously, we hadn't done this. Our summer jobs and our interns came by word of mouth, but we tend to bring in people from various other areas. Now, we're setting aside some of our internships and summer jobs for these specific priority education areas, these underprivileged areas.
In 2019, I mentioned this earlier, we've worked very hard on environmental topics. Three topics here we focused on, a couple very important, worked on a great deal. Change of CO2 emissions, also the circular economy, which is a central focus for us. A third point is biodiversity, water, and natural environments. We focus on the environment. This is the topic you can summarize most easily. We've done in-depth work. We've worked with all of our teams. Now, we've taken a commitment, we stated this a few weeks ago, to cut by 40% our CO2 emissions under the scopes we're in control of, scopes 1 and 2. The timeline here is 2030.
The good news is that if you just look at existing technology, today's technology, if we just had existing equipment that's available off the shelf from our suppliers today, if we implemented all of this in a very assertive way, a very ambitious way, between now and 2030, we've already reduced CO2 emissions by 30%. We want to go even further. We've taken a commitment to bring it down by 40%. We're convinced that our own R&D and the R&D of our suppliers and partners will enable us to reach a target of reducing CO2 emissions by 40%. 40% by 2030. That brings us to carbon neutrality by 2050, that's the trajectory of COP21, which means limiting global warming by down to under two degrees by the end of the century.
The other piece of good news, once we've achieved all of this, once it's all been done, the various actions enabling us to reach the minus 30, which are now available today off the shelf from our suppliers and partners. If we achieve this, if we do this, the actual figures here, we're talking about significant CapEx, but we've got the resources for this. Of course, there are winning lines and some losing lines, but all in all, it's win-win. This is very important, I'm convinced. The topic of the environment, we know this, is gaining speed at a dizzying pace. We're going to have to be constantly thinking about global performance, overall performance. It's not just technical, economic performance on one side, and environmental, societal, social performance on the other side. We should talk about comprehensive overall global performance or there's no performance at all.
When we talk about the environment, we won't achieve this if it's separated from economics. The good news in this survey we did in 2019 was that we've demonstrated, yes, it is possible to pull together what we need, have environmental performance and economic performance going hand in hand. That's not said often enough. We need to say there are far too many people who are convinced that saving the planet will mean negative growth. That's not true. Saving the planet will mean finding the resources to ensure that both concerns, environmental concerns and economic concerns, go together hand in hand, are focused on at the same time. Otherwise, we've seen episodes such as the yellow vest. There'll be social problems and unrest, and that would bring to the end our beautiful economies. It's very important we talk about this more and more. It's wonderful.
We think this tragedy has been an extraordinary opportunity to revisit the way we do things, our processes, the way we design things. Of course, we're not only focusing on the scope we're in control of, scopes 1 and 2, but we're also very aware that due to our size and our strong presence throughout the value chain are such that we have to play a role as a leader in this area and bring along others with us. With scope 3 upstream, our suppliers, and also scope 3 downstream. In VINCI Autoroutes, we have rolled out networks of electric recharging stations, maybe hydrogen in the future, throughout networks. Scope 3 upstream, VINCI Construction develops low carbon or ultra low carbon concrete formulas. Ultra low carbon concrete means 64% CO2 emissions reduction versus usual concrete production.
We use a great deal of concrete. We are a leader in this area. We can influence others. We can speed up factoring in these requirements, reduces CO2 emissions by the concrete manufacturers and cement makers. We've got responsibilities in scopes one and two, but a major responsibility to be the driving force on the scopes three and four up- and downstream. We love this. It's very exciting. It's an opportunity to review all of our processes, review everything. Eventually, some people I'm joking, but since VINCI is mainly full of technical people, lots of engineers, as soon as there's a new subject, a major subject like this one is, related to the environment, we think this is a blessing. We think it's very exciting to get down to work on it. I'd like to field your questions now. To the right for the first question, as usual. Paul.
He's just leaving you.
Thank you. Three questions. First, I'd like to return to slide 68 on the CapEx forecast for VINCI Highways. Second question on VINCI Airports. Third, question on Vinci Construction France. Vinci Construction France, it was said that the operating margin was slightly below 2%. Does that reflect an improvement over last year? Does it incorporate the claims proceeds from sensitive job sites that were losing money? Where are we at the Greater Paris on the awards for 2016 and 2017?
2015 and 2018, you mean?
On the forecast on slide 68, as compared to the slide shown last year by VINCI during the annual result, we had motorway CapEx forecasts that were slightly higher. Were there problems with the negotiation of the stimulus plan? VINCI Airports, ANA contributed strongly to the growth rate. It is seeing an asymptote on its EBITDA 65%, not very different than last year. Can we expect an improvement for Portuguese airports and possibly operating income for VINCI for ANA?
You really are the cutting edge there. Jean Christophe has done his homework. On VCF, income 2019 is better than it was previous years. It's better secured. We're now well-placed to begin to ensure it flourishes. The problems of the past are rather behind us. Doesn't mean they've all gone, because in this business, there are always humps, the worst is behind us, and that's built in terms of performance and conditions that are more robust than in previous years. On the Greater Paris, Jérôme, do you want to add something on VC, Vinci Construction France?
Hi. On Greater Paris, there were no significant awards of construction at Greater Paris in 2018. Award on line 18-1, that set out in the first half. We continue to respond to call for bids for segment 18-2, and we're gearing up for the subsequent segments that will be up for bids this year, for which we'll get a response in 2021, 2022, that are the first major lots of line 15 west.
Airports, yes, Nicolas.
Briefly, as you mentioned, the EBITDA margin has risen a lot these past years. That's the volume. There are two items. There's a key item, an increase in a minimum wage, a general kind of sharing of a number of growth benefits hitching on subcontracting that are striking in a number of services that are up slightly. As you see, we're in a phase of modeling. There are also additional design survey costs for the two projects, improving the capacity of the existing airport and preparing for the new airport of Montijo, which as we saw, Xavier said, was approved from the environmental standpoint and is now to be subject to the implementation of the MoU that we signed last year. It's no longer really a priority to continue this very significant growth phase, notably in Lisbon.
I didn't understand the question on the autoroutes on the highways, says Yves. Did you understand the question?
No.
You didn't understand me? You'll try and answer it nevertheless.
No. We've just had a study group on this. We didn't actually understand this because the three drivers of the level of motorway CapEx as presented last year and this year, it's the motorway stimulus plan for the Strasbourg bypass road. There are no changes, at least no reduction. I have to find last year's paper to answer you. It's more a phasing of sequencing.
No further questions. Let's take questions over the phone.
For questions over the phone, please dial one. With first question. J.P. Morgan, you have the floor.
We'll finish the questions in the room. Monsieur Darqueze, you have a question for the BFR and a WCR question, and then a question on country you mentioned is more and more important, particularly for you, the U.S. WCR first. Positive flows this year. Hadn't had that in the last three years. Understanding construction activities has had a positive impact on cash flow when it was low. Two questions. Any non-recurring in 2019, or was it due to previous years that it was fairly atypical? How do you see things then in 2020 in this respect? Second question has to do with the United States. VINCI Energies, Eurovia did fairly big size acquisitions in the U.S. there. What about construction?
You've testified that now your American coverage is focused in southwest of the U.S. You talk a lot about opportunities, for instance, in Maryland. Was that meaningful? Would you consider this?
Remember, out of the EUR 38 billion in our contracting business, construction is 50%. WCR versus growth, the phenomena go the other direction usually in other business lines, which is to say, part of VINCI Construction activity, particularly general contracting, has negative WCR requirements. Not negative, positive WCR requirements. When they grow, generally that improves WCR in theory. Another portion of construction and Eurovia, VINCI Energies, of course, have genuine working capital requirements. You've got to do a fine-tooth analysis. U.S. now. There's no current project to do anything of significant size in the U.S. for straightforward reasons.
The business of construction in the U.S. is a local business, the more it can be a fairly hazardous business. It's not our intention to spend a great deal of money to acquire positions there. The plus would be maybe gain root in a given state, but not necessarily neighboring states. That ties in with the third question. When with target compression deals in the United States, we absolutely have to be able to make sure that our contracting activities can be brought into the loop, not necessarily act alone, but have to be active. It would be risky in the U.S. to be fully dependent on an outside constructor. That could be a problem metrics. When you're in a portion of the U.S., one corner of the U.S., you're not necessarily deemed considerably active elsewhere in the U.S.
You don't necessarily have a full enough understanding of the local ecosystem of suppliers, subcontractors, are they unionized, are they non-unionized, and so forth. The country is a whole mosaic of regulations and business ecosystems that are quite different from each other. That brings me to the third point. Eurovia's strategy, Pierre, one last little correction, if it's taken. Strategy is to really say that we win when we've got a more dense coverage. That's how the cover lane activities. We're present in that portion of the U.S., the Southeast. We look at that opportunity to add to our density presence there. It may be counterintuitive. The temptation of a lot of people is to plant their flags every which way in the country. It's not successful in this business line.
It's better to get a more dense coverage where you already exist rather than give in to the temptation to plant your flags all over the country. It's not always true in all business lines. Sorry, I'm not doing a thorough detail. One part of VINCI Construction can see external growth with not big figures involved here. They could develop everywhere. I'm thinking of the high added-value technical VINCI Construction. Would you like to add a point? Is that okay? WFR or WCR? Microphone is on. On Working Capital Requirements, to answer your question, there is no non-recurring item to point out specifically. It's just that we recovered some of the income that we lost, so to speak, over time on various previous fiscal periods and job sites in France particularly. We've got a negative impact that we found, which is developing business in activity.
Developing an activity requires WCR, but it's good WCR. Payment times take longer than in other kind of elsewhere.
Olivier Rousseau from Oddo. I've got three questions. The first one on Eurovia. Margin growing in 2019. It seems to me it's down in the second half versus second half of 2018. Can you explain that? Second question, talk about the impact of China and VINCI Airports. I heard that the percentage of Chinese passengers, is there a different proportion in revenues that takes account the fact that Chinese spend more in retail? A last question, payout, the 2.5%, can we consider this is now normative? Can we expect an improvement or a return to 50%?
I'll let my colleagues respond to the first two points on the payout by Christian. We've always said that the payout rule of 60% introduced when we acquired ASF back in 2006, factored in the makeup of our business portfolio at the time, less concessions and more contracting today. As we develop concessions business, it was natural to consider a slightly higher payout because people who are pure players in concessions generally have payout ratios above 50%. We're beginning to make a step forward, normally we shouldn't detract. If we continue to successfully deploy our concessions business, it might not be the last step we take. Right, Christian?
Well, you decide.
That's the explanation, right?
Yeah. I don't find your figures on Eurovia. I don't see a deterioration in EBIT in H2. If there was one, there's nothing significant. That's not Eurovia.
H1 generally is disrupted by weather conditions. I don't see any reason. These aren't things that I look. I'm a bit surprised by the question. I don't see any material reason for any lags, if only maybe possible impact of weather conditions, but then it needs to be looked at by geography because, of course it varies. Christian is saying it's not what I have. We're talking about operating, and it's up in absolute terms and in %. If you talk about net income, there may be other factors, the goodwill impairments, disposal for the EBIT up. We checked, Xavier.
Okay. Chinese passengers volume is only 5.5%. In response to your question, we do calculate passengers without the Japan 9 million passengers. We have a penetration rate of only 14%.
Extra fare, they probably spend more, but in our accounts it's less because it's only 40% rate and it's non-consolidated. In Cambodia, we have 4.5 million Chinese passengers there. The rate is 70% higher, but they spend less than the average. That's why detailed calculations are less significant, represent about 5.5%, but it's long-term quality traffic because it grows faster than the average over the mid-long term. One of part of that traffic that we don't know the duration will be perhaps more impacted this year. That's just over 5% of our total traffic level. That's where it's interesting to really look at the long-term perspective and the crisis that we're experiencing today than the others before the end of the concession.
What's important is to manage them with great flexibility while bearing in mind that once the crisis is over, things go back to normal because we have this long time horizon. Next question.
Great.
Thank you. Yes, I've got three quick questions. First of all, could you update us on possible negotiations on the new Notre-Dame-des-Landes concession contract and possible compensation that you might negotiate for yourself? Second question, last year you mentioned difficult relations with your clients with taking concession contract and negotiating possible adjustments that would be required. I guess now that the relationships have since calmed down now, or are you still observing tension with clients on these subjects? One last question, and third and last question, what is your feeling on changes in operating margin in all the contracted businesses in 2020?
I'll let Nicolas answer on the Notre-Dame-des-Landes .
I said that last year about relations with clients, maybe it was slightly more tense in contracting, if you recall. Not concessions, which you mentioned, which isn't to say things are easy in concessions, but that's what I'm talking about this time. That's more contracting. Let me put it this way, though. I would say things haven't really improved or worsened. It's still sort of a sporting event, and we have to be very careful in managing the contracts. We're probably not the very best in France in contract management. Some well-known competitors are ahead of us. We probably need to be a little bit more clever in our contractual abilities. We're not just talking about carefully reading the contracts and making good use of our clauses in the contracts. We're talking about having excellent traceability of any and all events that necessarily impact, disturb in some way, on site.
Let's keep track of everything so that we can then have reasoning. We also need to deal with the matters as they arise and not keep brushing them under the carpet and await the end of the contract. We're learning as we move forward, and we adapt. Margins. Well, Arnaud Grison, in charge of VINCI Energies. Do we ask for another increase in margin in the short term? No. Maybe one day. We made a beautiful effort. We asked him politely last year, so we'll let him have a little breathing space now. Eurovia, maybe be pressured slightly. Construction, yes, definitely. Overall margin of construction should go up in 2022. Regarding Notre-Dame-des-Landes, Nicolas, briefly.
In nine years, we've worked very hard to execute the contract. No doubt about it. Traffic went from EUR 3 million- EUR 7.2 million passengers. This was the strongest traffic growth in France.
Surveys showing GDP. There wasn't a direct link with Nantes, Italy, and Spain. They've been created this way. We continue cancellation. At the earliest, it would be end of 2021, and we'll bring a new contract. We've got ongoing investments, smaller things, parking areas and so forth. In Eurovia, we're doing the extension of the Saint-Nazaire Airport, which helps Airbus because the A320 can land there now, and this generates jobs as well. We're asking for dialogue now. This is the right time to have discussions to calculate compensation for cancellation. Under administrative law in France, it depends on the value created, the lost amount, and so forth. It's a fairly complex calculation, 45 years' worth of contracts that are removed from us. Discussions are possible. They're not easy discussions. You can't one take a figure. There are ways and means of discussing it.
You have to protect roads and so forth. We would like to be actively involved in a discussion with the government on this.
Okay.
Muriel Fellous.
Muriel Fellous from MFF Research. I was wondering, would it be possible to optimize cost of debt for Gatwick? What might the timeline be to do that? I've got a second question. This has to do with the external growth. Are there geographies or business lines? We have some knowledge already, but do you have any additional new information on possible external growth? I got a last question. Elections and roadways. Why in 2020 do you think there won't be much of an impact from the municipal elections versus how things are usually?
First of all, John, Gatwick. It's a shared interest in it. It's a share with J.P. Morgan VINCI Airports. Optimize every possible cost of debt and optimize everything else as well. We've got a great team. I'll be meeting with others next week, such as people from the finance department.
They issued a figure for 30 years. That was July of 2019. I don't remember the rate, but it was pretty good, under 3%. They're true top professionals. Optimization will take place because rates will tend to remain low to very low. As we refinance existing debt, we'll be able to optimize. We have professionals who are from Gatwick, also some from Treasury. These are highly professional people. We can optimize acquisition debt. We are doing this and continue to do so. That's my answer. What about the elections question on this? It's always difficult to forecast the future. We do not expect a major drop in public works activity in France during the municipal elections year of 2020. Usually, it's countercyclical during municipal elections. Let me explain the reason. If you look at the long track record, things can fluctuate.
In 2014, there was a double-digit drop. If you look back farther, on average, it's less of a drop. You can see some very big drops and then some lower drops during election years. In another kind of election cycle, from the other cycle of elections, this is the other way around. Next year will be departmental elections or départemental. As a proportion of public contracts to public works is lower than for local municipal governments, there could be an impact. A third point. There are some more structural current effects. Firstly, local governments have fairly good finances right now, boosted inter alia by proceeds in property taxes. Furthermore, this is a real difference versus 2014. All the various shared structures that were being set up in 2014, shared by municipalities, are up and running. Twofold effect.
In 2014, our clients were getting reorganized, banded together, and so forth. During that period, they weren't launching projects, not many. That's a positive baseline effect. Furthermore, integrated projects in these urban areas that are long-term projects with structures that are less sensitive to political changes. That's for various reasons involved. We started the year with great momentum thanks to the order book at Eurovia, where business is very cyclical. The beginning of the year is going to be quite active since they've got orders on-hand. External growth, this will vary from business line, but an overall answer would be in contracting businesses, what we're convinced of is we can't just buy something because it's a beautiful company.
We acquire it if, first of all, we've worked hard to get a full understanding of their corporate culture and the culture and habits of the country we're going to buy in. We can't just develop everywhere we choose. Every business line has some priority geographies. For instance, you'll have observed Eurovia really likes Canada and the U.S. This could extend from the geographies in the future for the time being as developers trying to get greater density of our activities in those areas of the world. Eurovia won't be going to China or elsewhere in Asia. VINCI Energies is at the same point. They did its first significant development in the United States. In PrimeLine, we're in the integration process. This might take a few more years.
Once that's complete, we can use PrimeLine to possibly roll out other VINCI Energies expertise in that area of the world. We're doing this step by step. The rationale isn't exactly the same as for concessions. Concessions, especially airports. Here, our policy is we study 360 degrees. We look at everything. We try to be very proactive in our thinking, and we're then able to go to many geographies, assuming these geographies are secure in terms of legal and political stability, and assuming they're geographies which aren't ethically problematic. Questions over the phone now, please. We have a question over the phone, please.
[Non-English content]
Yes.
Okay, it's my turn. I have three quick ones. Cambodia. I understand there's a new airport being built at Phnom Penh, set to be completed in 2023. Is there going to be a NOBLAB there with your activities in Cambodia? Secondly, LAMSAC. Is there a date on the dispute? Thirdly, you seem more confident on VINCI Construction margins. When are you going to hit the 4% margin for VINCI Construction? Nicolas, for Cambodia.
Well, Cambodia is a country where for several years now, in several places, there are plans that are moving forward. They're evolving. The date that you mentioned seems very soon. Next, unfortunately, I'd say, is what's happening today in Cambodia is the stoppage, discontinuation of relations with China, difficulty to get engineers, materials. It's really not the topic of the day, Cambodia. It's really just to address the situation for an economy that remains rather weak. The shockwave at macro level could be quite significant. We're going to help it because the welcome at Cambodian airports, we have all necessary measures, technical health, to ensure the activity lasts. We don't know what's going to happen in the next few years, but there's nothing imminent or looming, and in the meantime, we're facing up to strong recent growth. We're extending the runway at Sihanoukville with Menard and VINCI Construction earthworks.
The airport's grown over 100% last year. On AMSAG, it's going to be long-term effort. That's to say, this type of dispute that you're referring takes time. The good news is that the contract execution continues. It's our duty as a concessionaire. The second section has been put in service. The traffic is there. We're hanging on. It's international arbitration, so it will take several years, and through which we're obviously vigilant and we're following the case, but there's no particular worries aside from the fact it takes time, but we continue to operate as a concessionaire. On the construction margin, it's going to happen in a few years' time. Does that answer your question? Thank you. Next, questions over the phone. Yes, please.
My first question, if I may, on motorway traffic, you ended the year up 2.8% at group level versus APRR at +1.1%. Can you explain what the reasons for this outperformance versus 2020 traffic? You say that you've had a slow rate growth. Can we expect to have as much as the growth in France? Second question on airport traffic levels. Given the limited capacity of ANA, can we expect a major slowdown in traffic levels in 2020 at Gatwick, given the Brexit and the growth level in 2019? Can you tell us what your outlook is for 2020? Final question here, Armand. The percentage of your order book going to the local government municipality? Thanks.
Yeah. Traffic versus APRR.
I think we have a better baseline effect, Yellow Vest that is, at the end of 2018 and early 2019 than APRR, and so we're benefiting from that, contrary to the baseline effect. Secondly, clearly, Franco-Spanish trade is better than Franco-German trade, and ASF is better than APRR, is benefiting from that effect. This trend going into 2020 is confidential, but I know that it can verge in line with the economic growth, barring any unforeseen event, we can say that the years after a good start.
On airports?
Yeah. Well, the paradox, one of paradox of airports, not long-term, is that highly constrained airports can have strong growth rates to facilitate operation. At Nantes, highly constrained, 16.6% in 2019. Also, in Lisbon, where we had over 7%, if I recall, in the Zico trends.
We're currently investing in the existing Lisbon Airport on the runway to facilitate in conjunction with Portuguese air traffic, that's also invested to optimize the number of short-term flights. There's additional capacity, new route tracking, but not the same level as the past, sometimes very high double digits, but there's still some scope. We're working the three years before the opening of a new airport to continue to optimize capacity.
Question on the percentage of the municipality block. If I put the question to Jérôme, he perhaps can respond to this question. For Jérôme, in your business, what's the share of VINCI Construction that comes from local government? If you give a figure, it'd be what?
15% for the municipalities. Yeah, a bit more, 20%, I'd say. For you, Pierre, a third.
There, in summary, since you're not physically present, Eurovia municipality, that's about a third of French Eurovia business. VCF, it represents 20% of the business of VCF. VINCI Energies, I think it's pretty modest. All in all, if we do the exact calculation that we never do, we'd be at best at 15% of total contracting. That's for France.
No regrets. Time for a refreshment. Thank you.