MILAN, May 27 (Class Editori) -- "The complex scenario related to COVID-19 is an opportunity to us. We have learned a lot in China, where our factory in the industrial park of Pinghu, in the Zhejiang province, reopened on February 10 and we have implemented our organizational measures in order to keep a highly competitive capacity worldwide."
Matteo Storchi, chairman and CEO of Comer, a company founded 50 years ago to produce transmission systems for agricultural machines, said that the company is now going to relaunch the project Our Bright Impact, strongly inspired by an environmental sustainability program. It will be implemented in all the production and commercial units of the group specialized in the most advanced mechatronics solutions.
"China has certainly tackled the pandemic with an effective strategy. We have exploited that knowledge on other markets, namely India, America and Italy. Today I can say that all the units, both production and commercial, are functioning at full power and we are looking at 2020 as a year which is surely challenging, but still open. If new lockdowns with the activities' suspension occurred, everything could change, but right now I think we will overcome this pandemic stronger than ever. Our development plan is strong and has been powerfully started, as the results of 2019 show, therefore we look forward."
In China, 2019 has been the year of the progressive development of the new factory which is located about 100 km away from Shanghai. It employs 250 workers, and more will be hired. Thanks to this activity, the outstanding performance in the Asia-Pacific area has been recorded, with an increase by 60 percent to 70 million euros. In 2020 an even quicker expansion would have taken place.
"Activities have been stopped for a very short time, a couple of weeks. Actually, we have more than regained what we had lost and the outlooks, also thanks to the support plan launched by the government, are still positive. For all our activities in China as well, focused on the Asia-Pacific area, which accounts for 17 percent of the total turnover, we forecast a year in line with the before COVID-19 expectations; or rather, maybe we are even going slightly better", Storchi has revealed.
The pandemic had different consequences in the various parts of the world and in the three sectors where Comer Industries is committed. The first one is the components industry for agricultural machines equal to 54 percent of the turnover, which amounted at 404 million euros in 2019; this sector has been the least affected by the scenario that sharply changed in February. Then, the sector related to renewable energies, to the wind one (17 percent of the turnover), which, in fact, has never stopped also in Italy. Lastly, the supplies for the industrial world and the heavy equipment (32 percent of the sales) are related to diversified trends according to the geographical areas.
In Italy, the situation is evolving. "We have just received the visit from the President of the Emilia Romagna Region Stefano Bonaccini. It is significant to feel the closeness of the institutions in such a difficult phase. In Charlotte (the USA) and in Limeira (Brazil), the activities have never stopped", as the entrepreneur has explained.
"Every country has relied on its own medicine and the Chinese one appears to be the most effective to us", as he has concluded, "for this reason it is difficult to make detailed forecasts on a global scale for the whole 2020, but we are working hard and we believe to have communicated this awareness also to the world of investors. During the AIM, Italy Virtual Conference which has just been concluded, we have shown the data of 2019, a really important year for the growth results we have achieved but we have also provided demonstrations of our growth strategies for the future".
On the biannual report, which the Comer Industries board of directors will be analysing in August, the repercussions of the two months strongly affected by the COVID-19 epidemic will be visible, but the expectations for the second part of the year are still positive.
In 2019, Comer Industries, listed on AIM Italia since March 13, 2019, has recorded an increase in the turnover by 6.7 percent up to 404.6 million euros, with an EBITDA of 45 million euros, which has driven the performance of the last three years to a CAGR of 22 percent; moreover, it has allowed a drastic reduction in debts, down to less than 3 million euros. The net profit has recorded an upswing by 18 percent to 18.5 million euros. The group employs almost 1,400 workers worldwide.
(Source: Class Editori)
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