Shareholders of glass tableware producer Calp held their Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 29 April, after a year characterized by an increase in turnover and significant recovery in profit.
Net profi…
Shareholders of glass tableware producer Calp held their Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 29 April, after a year characterized by an increase in turnover and significant recovery in profit. Net profit for the Italian group, despite higher taxation, settled at EUR 5.4 million, not far from the EUR 5.6 million in 2000. EUR 3 million was to be allocated as a dividend of EUR 0.11 per share (EUR 0.15 in 2001). After 1999-2000 investments in technological and plant improvements, the company is now focussing on organization, efficiency and marketing. The group plans to invest EUR 40 million by 2004, particularly in boosting its foreign market presence. Strategic goals of the group, in this respect, include expansion towards eastern Europe, China and the United States. The group managed to face up to the crisis which hit international markets by means of geographical diversification, resulting in an increase in turnover of 7% to EUR 94 million. Excluding Italy, which was penalised by a decrease in demand, and where, however, the group has maintained its market share, good sales results were seen in other areas. In particular, in Europe, there was an overall increase of 25% and a significant improvement on the UK market (+117%), resulting from a major promotional effort. The NAFTA market saw an increase of more than 6%, with the US market remaining relatively steady (-1.7%) and the Asian market growing by 35%. The incidence of operating costs on production value decreased from 92% in 2000 to the present 90%, in spite of increased amortisation in the same period (+16% at EUR 12 million) with regard to technical investments carried out in the previous two years. The operating result thus increased by 35% to EUR 11 million, representing an increase in return on sales from 9% to 12%. The net result was penalised by the absence of tax relief on the reinvestment of profits, from which the company benefited in 2000, the tax rate rose from 35% to 50%.