The door of the office where Agnès Noguera works opens every weekend for the curious who want to discover the largest collection of tin soldiers in the world, created by her father over the years. The Fundació de la Comunitat Valenciana Libertas 7, created under the protection of the business group of which she is CEO, manages the L'Iber museum, and turns this multidisciplinary businesswoman into a patron in her city, convinced that the private sector must also promote the cultural level of Valencia.
Vice-president of the Valencian Business Association (AVE) and head of a family business listed on the Stock Exchange that employs 47 people - "someday we should also quantify the indirect employment we generate" -, Noguera reviews the role of businessmen and women with a solid self-criticism: "We paint little in Madrid because either we have not known how to do it, or we have not earned it or we have each gone our own way," he defends in this interview.
We have lived these weeks the controversy over the accusations of "ruthless capitalist" of Podemos. How do you assess this situation?
Making an assessment is quite difficult for me, especially since I am on one side of the table and it is obvious. Anyone can say what they think, but respecting other people and, therefore, criminalizing people who are working and creating jobs and turning the economy around, does not seem very appropriate to me. At AVE, one of the main missions we have is to dignify the figure of the businessman, but for that we need to explain what we do and how we do it, so that we can better understand how the company works. The vast majority of businessmen are clear about what our obligation is and surely there will be those who do not do it well, but as in all professions.
- Is the businessman still the bad guy in the movie?
No, but it is true that we are not able or have not been able to explain what we do. And that is also our responsibility. During the pandemic, society realized the efficiency with which we work, how fast we are in solving problems, and the social value of the entrepreneur went up a lot, but it has gone down again, so I don't know how we should do it. Why is it not okay to have benefits? Risk has to have reward.
Libertas 7 presented results this past week, with an increase in profits in which the tourism campaign and real estate investments have had a lot to do with it.
In tourism it has been easy: we have had a very bad time during the pandemic years and now not only have we exceeded the turnover of 2019 by 15%, but we have also had better results because we have gained in efficiency. The years of the pandemic have helped us to rethink structures, expenses and to become more efficient again. In the tourism sector, Valencian tourism entrepreneurs are clear that we are more interested in increasing quality than volume, because in the end this results in social and economic sustainability as well. In tourism, in addition, an important digital transformation has been carried out, especially in how to reach the guest to have a more direct and closer relationship, trying to sell ourselves directly and reducing our presence on platforms, which we cannot give up either.
How has your real estate area performed?
We have delivered a building with better profitability because we had bought the plot after the financial crisis, a situation that did not happen in other operations because the purchases were prior to the crisis. But in this business area, the most important thing is not so much the result, but that we have six more promotions underway and all of this, as the licenses take so long and construction continues to be long, means that we have planted to have results in the future. . We are always thinking about projects that have long-term results.
Libertas 7 is a business with many different areas. Has that helped?
It is the philosophy of the house, my father thought that having three different branches allows that if one thing does not work one year, the other works and if not, then the one from beyond. This year we have had positive results in all three parts of the activity, which is why our result has improved by 23%, with cash and liquidity. There has been an improvement from the usual ratio figures in measuring a company, but we have a price that does not reflect the book value of the company, which is the problem with small publicly traded companies.
Tourist model: you have spoken of a quality model. What do you think of the limitation to tourist apartments?
It is very difficult because it is like putting gates to the countryside, since if an individual wants to rent his house, who is going to stop him? Will they put inspectors everywhere or will we have to denounce the neighbors? I think it's complicated. It is evident, and especially here in the Ciutat Vella, that there are fewer residents, which was seen a lot in the days of the pandemic. I understand that cities can die of success, with examples such as Barcelona where there has been an explosion of demand in neighborhoods where it is no longer pleasant to live and it is not possible to rent, and although I know that we would have to regulate ourselves, I am not clear on how . The regulation is not conducive because I think it would end up generating a lot of underground economy.
Other aspect. The lack of land in Valencia.
Yes. The city of Valencia still has large pockets of land, but they are very large and they are bought by international investment funds. For the local developer there is another way of working, because we bought a plot and built, but the problem is that the General Plan that Valencia has is from the time of Ricard Pérez Casado and no other plan has been made again and the city You already have other needs. What is the use of having industrial land where you cannot build? We have to rethink what model of the city we want in the long term, but since legislatures are not long and there is no one who has a clear model in their heads, as Pérez Casado had, who could like it more or less, but he had it. Because when there is no soil left, what will we have to do, eat the garden? I think we are all clear that no, but what will it be, La Punta? The City Council has been putting patches for a long time and it would be wiser to have a general picture and decide if we are going to grow in one way or another. There is no urban model in Valencia when there is one for pedestrianization, for example, and we need it because that way we will all be clear about what we can do.
Among the AVE plans is to continue claiming key infrastructures such as the corridor. What prospects do you see regarding the Government's deadlines?
Before we launched the "I want a Corredor" movement, the Ministry completely ignored the project. What is clear is that at least in these six years we have put the issue on the table, we have given support, and civil society is aware that this problem exists and that it is an adequate infrastructure for everyone, not just for businessmen. , because it supports us as the Mediterranean axis and that is good for the State as a whole and for us. Since we are vindicating the issue, progress has been made, it is in motion and the successive ministers of whatever color have taken it seriously and things are progressing, although they are going much slower than we would like. The political will is not as determined here as in Madrid, where you now see that the Chamartín tunnel is going much faster than here, where we still have the La Encina junction to solve. Obviously, there are other priorities, but we have made progress and we must not stop vindicating the infrastructure no matter how much problems arise with France on the border, because we will never end. France may have other priorities, but it would be necessary for the European bodies to give it a wake-up call.
The business sector is also involved in regional financing. There is consensus in the political class and civil society, but don't you think that the demands are not reaching the streets?
It is technically more complicated to explain than the Mediterranean corridor, but it can be reached to the vast majority of society than if we have an autonomous government, with powers mainly in health, education and public services, but it does not have the money that you need to pay for these services -and in all the rest of the Spanish autonomies they do have that level to assume it-, there is something that does not work. I would not like to fall into victimhood, or make extreme political demands so that they pay attention to us, neither 'per Ofrenar' nor independence, but we must be aware that if the Generalitat Valenciana does not have the financing that belongs to it, it is as if it did not we had self-government, because we depend on Madrid giving us the money we get.
The FLA is a joke because it is a loan, and the loans are paid and with the rise in interest rates they cost much more, so it ends up being a trap. And we must demand that they forgive our historical debt and, on the other hand, I very much agree with the proposal of the Minister of Finance, Arcadi Spain, to measure the efficiency of public spending because what we cannot do is ask for the money that we touch and then not spend it well.
I would ask for a 'spending review' of the public accounts.
Yes. And also, and this is a personal opinion, I am in favor of the public Treasury, because collecting and sending the money to Madrid is not the same as having your own Treasury that you know what expenses and income you have. The inspection pressure of Madrid is one, but it is not close and in this way it would be, and above all we would be aware of what it costs for the Administration to enter that money. In addition, the State budget that goes to the autonomous communities has to be expanded because we cannot solve our problem by taking away part of their budget from Cantabria or Galicia. The rules have to change, but more money is also needed.
The Government asks for solidarity between territories, but it does not take steps to solve the problem either, right?
No, they don't do anything and we don't have the strength to demand anything either because Murcia, the Balearic Islands and Catalonia are underfinanced in addition to us.
And could Catalonia be a fellow traveler in this claim?
Yes, it could, but unfortunately it has had the political vicissitudes that it has had and it has neglected to exert force among all, because it is evident that it is a necessity. There is a clear injustice with all the territories of the Mediterranean slope.
Voices have been heard for a long time asking that businessmen tell more about what they do, that they come out of the closet, as Juan Roig said years ago. Are they rarely heard, and above all, are they heard little in Madrid?
We did not paint much in Madrid, or we have not known how to do it, we have not earned it or we have each gone our own way, but in any case I also believe that we have made important progress. The corridor has at least put us on the map of Madrid, as we came together to do something together and it has been one of the first collective initiatives that has had some success. I also believe that having great business figures is important, that we have them, but we have to have more, because they are benchmarks. And we have to respect them, especially if they are committed to the territory, which is also the case here. We need larger companies because if they are all small, our ability to influence is less when we know, furthermore, that this year's elections are largely played in the Valencian Community. The politicians will come, they will fill our heads with ideas and they will promise us everything, they will seek votes and they will forget about us.
And how can it be reversed?
Being ourselves stronger, and believing that we have a higher importance than we do. We have made an important collective effort to change the image of the Valencian Community which, at the beginning of time, was the "Happy Levante" and everyone thought that we lived on permanent vacations. We have gone from that to the image of the land of corrupt and wasteful, making a very important collective effort to change the image and now what we have to do is continue working to strengthen ourselves as a Community. We have to structure ourselves and go to one.
Does this account also have to do with the loss of financial muscle? Would we need a Valencian bank to have that presence?
That is past history, because no one helped to maintain the Valencian financial system either and we have also made many mistakes. You don't need a bank, but you do have to make an effort to redirect the savings and investment of Valencians in the territory and for that you don't need a bank, there are many other ways, but I'll save it for later.
