The Pamesa Cerámica company chaired by Fernando Roig breathes a sigh of relief because, despite two "very difficult" years, it has met "the objective of being profitable and maintaining jobs, with a lot of effort," the businessman said this morning. The company has presented results today at its headquarters in Vila-real after closing 2023 with sales worth 1,197 million euros, 311 million less than in 2022, 22% less. Pre-tax profits have also been reduced, going from 72 million to 21 million, 51 million less than the previous year.
Roig explained both the difficulties that have arisen due to inflation and the cost of energy prices, whose bill last year rose to 225 million euros, "a real outrage," according to the businessman.
Looking ahead to 2024, Roig explained that the company's largest operation has been the investment of 133 million euros in acquiring the company Ascale, dedicated to the production of large plates, where a large technological investment has been made to reduce dependence on suppliers.
"In 2024, demand is recovering and the level of orders has been increasing since September 2023," explained Roig, who has assured that his private event Cerámica Experience has worked very well, further distancing himself from the appointment with Cevisama, in the They haven't participated in two years. "We have opted for our showrooms; here we have a 3,000 square meter exhibition where you show the product better, serve the customer better and where you can schedule visits... We have no objective of attending Cevisama," he declared to questions from the journalists.
The tile fair closed its doors last Friday at Feria Valencia in a climate of good forecasts - which Roig has also shown for the current year - although with an active labor conflict, due to the blocking of the negotiation of the collective agreement between unions and patronal.
In this sense, Pamesa Cerámica has distanced itself while waiting for the tension to be resolved - "we must have social peace and seek agreements," he said - and has made the decision to update salaries by 3.1% (CPI 2023), in addition to paying the arrears accrued from last year in this month's payroll to all its workers, 2,897 in total.
Another of the issues raised at the press conference was that of aid to the sector, which the Ascer employers' association denounces as insufficient. The Government announced last week that it was expanding the exception to the tile sector to pay suppliers and thus be able to access European aid after the difficulties manifested by the late payment regulations, a situation that footwear companies have also complained about today due to the obstacles they encounter when accessing circular economy Perte aid.
In this sense, Roig explained that in his company "we have not asked for aid because we are not about subsidies, we are about solutions; I think that with subsidies we only buy favors." Likewise, Roig has assured that they have renounced all those that would have been theirs, some 25 million euros of the 70 distributed among the ceramic companies, according to his calculations. "We haven't wanted to because we don't believe in that, but what we are asking for are solutions."
