SEPI Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales

• The highest ranking officer makes a comprehensive and detailed review about the Company’s situation in the Budgetary Commission of the Chamber of Deputies
• He announces that no divestments will take place until markets become stable
• He notifies the imminent set up of an internal audit system

The Chairman of the state-owned industrial holding company Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI), Mr. Ramón Aguirre, put forward in the meeting of the Budgetary Commission, which took place in the Chamber of Deputies, the general lines which will characterize his management of the state-owned holding company during 2012.

During his presentation, Mr. Aguirre made a comprehensive and detailed review of the most relevant actions which SEPI’s parent company, its participated companies and the private companies in which it has a minority shareholding will carry out.

In this sense, SEPI’s highest-ranking officer stated that he has set himself as the first objectives of his Chairmanship those of contributing to the policy of the Nation’s Government; maintaining the soundness of the companies’ workforces; and financially stabilizing the holding’s parent company and its participated companies for realizing their value through their reorganization, their strengthening and their opening up to the international markets.

Regarding SEPI’s budgets for 2012, he observed that, in spite of the complicated economic situation, the Company’s finances are completely autonomous, as it does not need any kind of transfer from the State General Budget. “If we insist on a combination of austerity, loss-reduction and profit set-off, we will be able to translate the balance and the margin into a financial stability guaranteed for the next four years”, he stated.

That is why he announced that no divestments will take place until markets are not stabilized. “There will be no closures or privatizations, and after the savings included in the Budget for 2012 and the removal of some wrong expenditures, SEPI does not need to sell its shareholdings for procuring the liquidity required for its normal operations”.

As for the expenditure policy, Mr. Aguirre has set as the waybill the austerity criterion through a reduction of the spending limit for normal operations and the reduction of the payroll as a result of the new remuneration policy. The fulfillment of the reorganization of the state-owned entrepreneurial sector, after the decision of the Council of Ministers, will result in the preparation of a proposal for concentrating in just one entity the companies from the Treasury and the different public agencies.

Next actions

SEPI’s Chairman has also dealt with the two fronts on which he will focus with regard to the holding’s normal operations; the internal audit and the standardization of the management of the policies which have to do with profitability.

“SEPI lacks an internal audit body, so that next month, taking advantage of the reorganization of the organizational chart, I will set up an Internal Audit department, which will be directly attached to the Chairmanship, and which will enjoy absolute autonomy and independence, so that it can act within the holding”, he informed. Equally, he pointed out that the management of the dividend, margins, treasury and financing policies will be centralized.

The companies

To conclude, and with regard to some of the companies of the public holding, Mr. Ramón Aguirre pointed out some of the projects which he wants to carry out during the next few months.

In the case of the shipbuilding company Navantia, he mentioned that “although there is room for increasing its orders in the military and civilian industries, we must focus all our efforts on the international orders”. Another of the companies mentioned was Corporación RTVE, of which he regretted its current lack of control and, as he mentioned, “it is urgent to unblock the budgetary issue”. As for ENRESA, the Chairman has set himself the goal that the companies which belong to the nuclear industry (ENSA, ENUSA) and TRAGSA itself take over a high percentage in the construction of the Spanish Temporary Storage Facility for nuclear waste (ATC). Finally, and regarding Hispasat, SEPI’s Chairman observed that after the sale by Telefónica to Abertis of its shareholding, the public sector which is present in Hispasat’s shareholding has started talks aimed at promoting a new strategic project which strengthens the role of Spanish industry and which promotes the public Space service.