parent company certain wholly owned subsidiaries and by joint venture arrangement with other international contractors the volume of work per formed while less than the figure for 1959 was well diversified and included stripping and mining dams and tunnels for hydroelectric projects military installations river control and irrigation projects shaft sinking bridges commercial buildings industrial and petrochemical plants the consolidated investment in construction activities at the year end was 21 3 million as compared with 23 million at the close of 1959 account ing for the decrease were the return of our investment in projects completed in i960 and the sale of a sizable amount of idle equipment while gross construction revenues declined 9.6 per cent from the pre vious year operations were modestly profitable and represented an improve ment over 1959 profits earned did not however achieve a rate of return on investment considered satisfactory during the year the trend of increased intensity in foreign and domestic competition continued and tended to depress profit margins below levels considered justified by the risks inherent in heavy construction and engi neering operations our backlog of uncompleted work totaling 90 million at the year end was accordingly down 18 million from the end of 1959 our construction equipment is presently reasonably well in use or com mitted to use but additional construction volume particularly of the domes tic type is necessary to attain profit levels which will represent a satisfactory return on our investment in this phase of activity foreign operations were conducted in peru brazil colombia ecuador near lesterville mo utah is participating in construction of hydroelectric facilities for union electric company drilling is shown here prior to blasting and excavation in the republics of gabon and congo we are partici pating in construction of a 180-mile port-to-mine railroad for cnmpagnie miniere de i'ogooite mexico canada australia korea pakistan thailand france and republic of the congo french the majority of our work overseas has been or is being performed on a fee basis and operations during the past year were profitable no difficulties in converting foreign exchange have been experi enced during i960 competition for overseas construction work was further intensified as european contractors armed in many instances with special assistance or financing from their respective governments sought work more aggressively outside of the european area the volume of new work which we can tender on a fee basis is declining while the volume of work on which tenders are requested on a firm price basis is increasing this trend accentu ates the hazards in foreign work and emphasizes the need for careful evalua tion of the risks involved in east pakistan a wholly-owned subsidiary is constructing the 55-million government owned kamafiili multipurpose hydroelectric project shown here is erection of penstock steel in ,"¦•¦¦ ¦ project commenced in 1957 is scheduled for completion in 1962 pictured here is steel support work inside one of 15 a tlas missile underground storage-launching sites being constructed by the company for the u.s air force at a midwest location