Civil Engineering Fall 2026 Report

The FOCUS Civil Engineering Services Index (CESI) was essentially flat in our fall reporting period, edging up 0.1% over the past three months. This trailed the gains of both the S&P 500 (up 2.0%) and the NASDAQ (up 2.5%), making this the second straight period in which the CESI has underperformed the broader market. The CESI’s underperformance was significantly greater for the full year period. The CESI declined 21.8% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 gained 14.4% and the NASDAQ gained 18.5%. The sector revenue multiple slipped from 1.4x a year ago to 1.1x currently, while the EBITDA multiple rose from 9.6x to 15.0x. This implies a significant deterioration in margins for the sector.

The Mid Cap sub sector was once again the top performer, gaining 10.9% over the past three months for back-to-back double-digit gains. Keller Group led the way with a 25.9% gain, its second straight double-digit increase, and its stock price has more than doubled (up 118.8%) over the full year period. Arcadis was also a strong performer, rising 17.4% on the heels of a 21.5% gain last period. Even so, the Mid Cap sub sector is still down 8.6% for the full year period. Sub sector multiples also trended lower, with the revenue multiple ticking down from 1.1x to 1.0x and the EBITDA multiple declining from 10.6x to 9.4x.

The Small Cap sub sector rebounded from essentially breaking even last period to post a very respectable gain of 6.2% in the current period. Bowman Consulting posted the largest gain, jumping 46.0% in a period in which it agreed to be acquired by Bernhard Capital Partners. Costain Group (up 25.4%) turned in its second straight double-digit gain, and Constructora Conconcreto was up 19.2%. Onterris moved sharply in the other direction, falling 33.8% after a double-digit gain last period. The Small Cap sub sector is down 2.7% over the past 12 months, which still makes it the CESI’s top performing sub sector over the full year period. Costain led the way over this period with a 90.2% gain. Sub sector multiples ended the period at 0.9x revenue and 10.5x EBITDA, compared to 0.9x revenue and 11.9x EBITDA a year ago.

The Large Cap sub sector declined 1.4% over the past three months, its second straight loss. Eight of the ten stocks in the sub sector were down, although most of the losses were small. The largest declines were at AECOM (down 15.5%) and Technip Energies (down 14.3%), each of which posted its second straight double-digit loss. On the plus side, Tetra Tech bucked the trend with a gain of 14.1%, while Jacobs Solutions was up 7.4%. The sub sector is down 23.8% for the full year period, which includes a 54.8% decline at AECOM and losses of more than 37% at both Stantec and WSP Global. The Large Cap revenue multiple slipped from 1.5x a year ago to 1.1x at the end of the current reporting period, while the EBITDA multiple increased from 9.4x to 16.8x over this same time frame.

Public Markets Summary

Twelve Month Index Returns

Sector and Sub Sector Returns

Sector and Sub Sector Revenue Multiples

Sector and Sub Sector EBITDA Multiples

M&A Summary

M&A activity in the Civil Engineering Services sector remained strong in our fall reporting period. We counted 61 transactions with a total announced transaction dollar value of $2.3 billion. While the deal count was down from 74 transactions in our summer report, the dollar value was up from $1.3 billion. Year-to-date, the sector has seen 205 transactions with $6.1 billion in announced transaction dollar value. On an annualized basis, this puts the sector on pace for roughly 273 transactions, which would be the most of any year in the last five. On a dollar value basis, the $8.2 billion in annualized announced dollar value is running second only to 2025’s $8.6 billion.

Two of the period’s largest deals involved proposed acquisitions of publicly traded companies. Bernhard Capital Partners announced the acquisition of Small Cap sub sector member Bowman Consulting Group for $1.1 billion, the largest deal of the period. In the second largest deal, Rejlers announced the $600 million acquisition of fellow Small Cap company Multiconsult. Webuild also made a $443 million competing bid for Italian geotechnical engineering firm TREVI, which we reported last period as being acquired by I.CO.P.

Private equity remained an active buyer. Notable investments included Audax’s acquisition of Integral Consulting, Veritas Capital’s purchase of Saber Power Services and New Mountain Capital’s acquisition of JENSEN HUGHES. CIVC Capital Partners acquired both Cushing Terrell and CTA, part of a busy period for the Buildings and Structural vertical, which had 16 transactions, the most outside of Diversified Civil. Several of these targets were MEP engineering firms, including Phillips Gradick Engineering, acquired by serial acquirer IMEG. Other frequent acquirers included WSB and Verdantas (three deals each) and Galloway & Company and Salas O’Brien Engineers (two each).

This period had three transactions with announced multiples. The Bowman Consulting Group acquisition had the highest multiples at 2.0x revenue and 22.7x EBITDA, well above the Small Cap sub sector trading multiples of 0.9x revenue and 10.5x EBITDA. The Rejlers acquisition of Multiconsult was more in line with the sub sector at 1.0x revenue and 8.9x EBITDA. Finally, Webuild’s bid for TREVI had multiples of 0.7x revenue and 5.9x EBITDA.

Number of Transactions

$ Value of Transactions in Millions