After the pre-bid presented in December, Duro Felguera and the staff are waiting for the return of the Christmas holidays to sit down to negotiate possible labor adjustments due to the group’s financial situation. They will do so now with a new face among the company’s representatives: the director of Human Resources, Gemma Fernández-Nespral, has left the company and has been replaced by Pablo Fernández López, an executive of the house.
The company itself has confirmed the replacement of elEconomista.es and it already did the same internally in recent weeks. Coming from Nissan, Fernández-Nespral already experienced between 2020 and 2021 on the front line the closure of the factory that the Japanese automobile company had in the Barcelona Free Trade Zone. Previously he was at Banc Sabadell and General Electric.
In his place will be Pablo Fernández López, with more than 20 years of career in Duro Felguera. He joined the listed company in 2001 and since then he has moved through different divisions of the company to head the people department as he will from now on.
It will not be an easy time for the Asturian group. Throughout the month of December there was speculation about the liquidity difficulties that paying the payroll would entail. According to the sources consulted, the double was received without problems but the regular pay was received a few days late than was usual for the company.
For the Christmas return, the hot potato remains: negotiating a possible adjustment derived from the pre-contest in which it is immersed, something that has not yet been finalized for the squad. In a note sent internally to workers a month ago, he already said that beyond negotiating with creditors he would focus on achieving “a viable company structure that protects the interests of Duro and its employees.” In the presentation of results for the first semester, he also warned of the profitability problems of the Duro Felguera Calderería Pesada workshop, in Gijón. However, where Grupo Prodi – the company’s reference shareholder – will pass the scissors is still in the realm of speculation.
The other fronts of Duro
In addition to addressing the negotiation with the squad, Duro Felguera will have to sit down in January with the bank – which refuses to lend him more money – to face his financing needs and extend maturities after the entities already deferred the payment of 6 million euros.
Then it will be the turn to find a solution with Sepi for the 120 million euros lent after the pandemic and that the organization cannot pay either. The entrance of holding company public in the capital, added to the dilution of Grupo Prodi, today seems the most likely option while waiting to find a new investor.
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