The Italian Group with headquarters in the Veneto region, one of the biggest European players in the vertically integrated production of paper, cardboard and packaging, closes the 2020 financial year with consolidated revenues reaching Euro 448.5 million with a consolidated net profit of Euro 18.4 million. The group invested Euro 500 million over 5 years in technology and innovation.
Ospedaletto d’Istrana (TV), 31 March 2021 – Although the market has been strongly affected by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2020 financial statements of Pro-Gest SpA close with a positive sign, as emerges from the report released yesterday, 30 March 2021, by the Board of Directors, chaired by the founder Bruno Zago.
In 2020, the Group reached a turnover of Euro 448.5 million, with operating Ebitda of Euro 81.2 million, net profit of Euro 18.4 million, financial exposure of Euro 447.5 million and a liquidity of Euro 62.9 million. During the year, investments for over Euro 50 million were made, completing a cycle started five years ago, thus reaching a total of over Euro 500 million, through which the group has made its production facilities more competitive and technologically advanced.
Despite the complexity of the period, cost rationalizations and management methodologies were implemented aimed to recover efficiency and profitability, preserving and increasing employment opportunities with an increase of 40 new hires in 2020, reaching 1,151 employees.
The 2020 financial year was characterized by two fundamental events that strongly strengthened the operational and financial structure. In November, the innovative Mantua paper mill, after having received all the authorizations to operate, began production with a fully operational capacity of over 400,000 tons/year. The capital structure of the group was also revised in December, thanks to an initial issue of Euro 125 million of bonds on the international market.
Among the product divisions in which the Pro-Gest Group operates, there is a positive trend in the paper manufacturing sector, and a trend in line with the set budgets for the production of packaging, which benefits from the good performance of the fruit and vegetable and take-away segments, where demand is carried by a global macro trend of gradual replacement of plastic with more eco-sustainable solutions as paper and cardboard.
“I am confident that the Pro-Gest organization, which is gradually being strengthened, will be able to seize all the opportunities offered by the market in the near future, as is emerging in these first months of 2021 – said the CEO, Francesco Zago – we hope that in the second half of the year the pandemic will slow down and finally leave room for a solid and widespread recovery. ”
On the sidelines of the Board of Directors, the chairman Bruno Zago confirmed the value of the corporate structure of the Pro-Gest Group – totally controlled by the Zago family – and is satisfied with the results of 2020, as well as with the revision of the capital structure, which in its new configuration is able to support the growth projects envisaged in the business plan. During the approval of the draft financial statements, a new bond issue of up to a maximum of Euro 75 million was also confirmed in 2021, which will further strengthen the Group’s liquidity, thus creating the management conditions for a significant improvement in the financial leverage.