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Sitting in his top-floor office at the Vinci headquarters in the west Paris suburb of Rueil-Malmaison, Ratynski exudes serenity and calm. In typical Gallic fashion, his only slight concern that morning is that maybe he should have gone to the hairdresser before the photo shoot that will follow the interview.

At the age of 44, Ratynski is still young, and yet has already ruled his empire for two years. His background is impressive: a graduate of the renowned French business school, HEC, he has a law degree and is also a qualified accountant. Before joining Vinci Construction he held senior roles at management consultant Arthur Andersen and contractor Sogea.

Vinci Construction鈥檚 turnover was 鈧�8.2bn (拢5.7bn) last year and is expected to hit 鈧�8.9bn (拢6.2bn) for 2005. Ratynski beams: 鈥淭he orders are historically high, with a very high level of demand.鈥�

To stay ahead of the peloton, Vinci has had to make some tough decisions. Ratynski points out that the group closed down a German subsidiary, Bruggeman, last year. He says the turnover wasn鈥檛 bad 鈥� about 拢17.5m 鈥� but the market had become too difficult. 鈥淲e preferred to stop before losing money,鈥� he says, a little defensively, explaining that it is part of the life of a group the scale of Vinci to make these calls.

Apart from that, Vinci Construction, according to its boss, starts 2005 on a 鈥渧ery strong basis鈥� after the recent completion of some major projects. One of the highlights of 2004 was the 2.2 km Rion-Antirion bridge in Greece. This required seven years of work and was handed in five months ahead of schedule. 鈥淲e are extremely proud of it, because it is the first seismic bridge in the world and the result of the common work of all the divisions of Vinci. It is a good, very elaborate project in terms of concession and financing,鈥� Ratynski says and concludes by labelling it 鈥渁 human success鈥�.

This is a typical Ratynski phrase. The human dimension of the building industry comes up throughout the conversation. This flowery management-speak hides an extremely shrewd strategy. Vinvi uses a decentralised management system and meticulous preperation to grow its business. In the volatile markets of eastern Europe, for example, it has been growing by 30-40% a year. 鈥淣etworking is essential. We mesh a territory very carefully. We end up knowing all the mayors, architects and competitors. We can almost intuitively guess who to work with. The more you know and the more present you are, the better your profit is.鈥�

Vinci is the first provider of the track for high-speed trains in the UK and France, it has private and public partnerships in Germany for 40 schools and also thrives in Belgium and Holland. Further afield, it is looking at roadways projects in Libya, including a 鈧�261m (拢183m) river site scheme.

Ratynski casts his eye across the Channel: 鈥淚n the UK, we鈥檇 like to develop and acquire regional, medium-sized companies in order to intensify our network. But we don鈥檛 want to acquire national companies. The orders and profits have increased. It鈥檚 all very well but our primary strategy is no further development. We are not in an aggressive or conquering strategy at all.鈥�

Ratynski insists that potential partners should satisfy some basic requirements: 鈥淚f we buy something, we don鈥檛 want to fail. We want a healthy company with people who are like us and who really want to work with us and share the same values. If that doesn鈥檛 happen, that鈥檚 not dramatic.鈥� The UK鈥檚 PFI craze hasn鈥檛 caught him. In fact, he thinks that it is 鈥渦n miroir aux alouettes鈥�, or lark鈥檚 mirror, which is a nice French expression for something that looks good but which has no real substance. Vinci is currently taking over sites from Jarvis, but walked away from the firm鈥檚 PFI bidding interests.

Ratynski might be sitting pretty at the moment, but he has spotted some worrying trends: 鈥淲e鈥檝e noticed that European companies have consistently withdrawn from the international market. It is a risky market but also one where money can be made,鈥� Ratynski says: Vinci Construction鈥檚 Grands Projets division is the most profitable part of the company.

The main Western competitors left are Bilfinger, Hochtief and Bouygues but it is the Chinese, Korean and Middle Eastern firms that represent the greatest threat, he believes, because their methods of work and their bidding strategy are alien to Vinci鈥檚 standards. 鈥淎s long as we sell what we do best and don鈥檛 lose ourselves in huge bidding procedures, that鈥榮 fine,鈥漵ays Ratynski.

As the interview ends, Ratynski again scoffs at the notion of being number one: 鈥淥ur strategy is to be excellent. That鈥檚 what the group and shareholders want, so we are coherent. We are not asked to go and conquer the world and we don鈥檛 feel like it either. We prefer to cultivate our own garden.鈥�