The strong competition from countries such as India and Mexico following the rise in gas prices and the fall in purchases from the European market have drastically reduced the profitability of the Castellón tile industry, the largest manufacturer in Europe by volume. One of the largest producers in Spain, the British group Victoriahas decided to take action on the matter.
Victoria, owner of the ceramic manufacturer Keraben and brands such as Saloni and Íbero in Spain, wants to profoundly transform its production after the sharp drop in its profitability due to the weakness of the European market. The corporation has announced that to mitigate the effects of low demand and increased competition from low-cost countries it will install “a new ultra-efficient production line in Spain”.
Plans that are part of its strategy in recent years to concentrate its production and investments in Castellón at the Keraben facilities in Nules, after deciding abandon the majority of ceramic manufacturing at the Saloni plant in Sant Joan de Moro.
As Victoria explains, the objective of this investment is to be able reduce your costs and improve your profits between 16 and 19 million pounds a year –the equivalent of between 19 and 22.5 million euros– “according to current market conditions.”
In its results for the first half of its year, it assures that this project “will take about 12 months to complete, but work is underway and the first stage will be delivered in the middle of fiscal year 2026”, which will have a positive impact on the result of that year, although it will be the next year when the expected improvement is recorded in its entirety.
High losses
The announcement comes at the same time that Victoria has presented poor results for the first half of its year, with losses of 172.6 million pounds (206 million euros), also including its rugs, carpets and other surfaces businesses. such as vinyl and artificial grass.
In those six months, its ceramic division has reduced revenue by 9%up to 181 million euros, and that business has generated operating losses of almost 100 million euros, compared to the 13.4 million positive operating result in the same period of the previous year, according to its disaggregated data.
As a result of this poor evolution, Victoria chose to sell its factory in Turkey, Graniser, as announced a few days ago, because its commitment to manufacturing in that country did not achieve the expected results. An operation valued at 36.8 million euros, although the majority is debt assumed by the buyer.
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