Duro Felguera continues to move forward. Yesterday, the company held its Ordinary General Meeting, in which the shareholders approved the management of the Board of Directors, the annual accounts, the Management Report and the remuneration policy of the Board for the next three years.
In her speech to the Meeting, the Chairman of Duro Felguera, Rosa Aza, highlighted the positive evolution of the company in “a year that has been crucial for the transformation and consolidation of the future of Duro Felguera” and described the approval of the 90 million capital increase to bring in two industrial investment partners, Grupo Prodi and Mota-Engil México, as one of the most important milestones in the company’s roadmap. “Their entry represents a turning point for our company, strengthening the existing capital structure and providing us with the necessary liquidity to carry out our business plan”, she said.
The chairwoman also wanted to place special emphasis on the progress made in governance during this period. “Duro Felguera’s business model incorporates sustainability as a key element, which equally affects the design of the organisation’s strategy, decision-making and operations management. In this way, we promote the use of best practices in the development of our activity, responding to the expectations of the different stakeholders of the company: shareholders, public institutions, employees, customers and suppliers,” she said.
“Throughout 2022, we have continued working to ensure that Duro Felguera has an exemplary organisation. In terms of corporate governance, we have set up a Sustainability Committee, approved a new Sustainability Policy and reinforced our reputation with the recognition by AENOR of our commitment to regulatory compliance and business ethics,” added the chairwoman. In this regard, it is worth highlighting that Duro Felguera has been awarded the highest rating (G++) in the Corporate Governance Index by AENOR. We are the eighth company in Spain to hold this certification, together with Prosegur, Prosegur Cash, Banco Santander, Caixa Bank, Ferrovial, Ercros and Euro Caja Rural.
Aza also thanked the employees for “their effort and understanding” in difficult times and assured that “together we are managing to transform Duro Felguera, which allows us to face the future with optimism. There is still a lot of work to be done, but this company is ready to play a relevant role again, and to be a business reference in Asturias and Spain”.
The CEO, Jaime Argüelles, explained in detail the satisfactory results “marked by effort and commitment”. In order intake, the year closed with 348 million euros, which is well above the established target and double the amount contracted in 2021 (175 million euros). Revenues reached 117 million euros, 39% higher than in 2021 (84.5 million euros). EBITDA was EUR 4.3 million positive, compared to EUR 9 million negative in 2021, which allows ending the year with a net result of EUR 5 million positive. The contract portfolio at the end of the year amounted to 555.5 million euros, the vast majority of which was international. “We have managed to turn around the company’s results and its way of working, giving it a new dynamism,” he said.
With this, Argüelles showed his conviction that the company’s recovery and consolidation is already a fact, “although there is still a lot to do” and indicated that the step towards this phase of growth and expansion “is marked by an ambitious, but fully feasible, business plan through which we are going to exceed 1,000 million in contracts and sales in four years”.
He also referred to the importance of the capital increase operation for the future of Duro Felguera and remarked that the entry of Grupo Prodi and Mota-Engil Mexico will provide “generation of even more confidence in all stakeholders” and “commercial synergies together”.
The CEO expressed his optimism for the favourable expectations for 2023 and stressed the fundamental objectives: to hire more, increase sales, improve efficiency and competitiveness and continue working to offer increasingly better results. “Hiring, hiring and hiring, to which we must now add executing, executing and executing projects,” he said.
He also warned that facing all these challenges requires continuing to carry out a profound transformation towards “optimised and more efficient ways of working through the simplification and improvement of processes; all of this in a dynamic of continuous improvement and with full focus on projects, which are the raison d’être of the company”.
Like the President, the CEO had words of thanks in his speech to the people of Duro Felguera, whom he considers to be the architects of the differential value that the company brings to its customers. “We must recognise and applaud the effort and dedication of our employees, whose commitment and professionalism are fundamental”, he said.