SEPI Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales

• According to his forecasts, a continued growth path has began, which will translate into permanent positive results
• Grupo SEPI maintains its financial autonomy, does not generate any deficit, and its impact on the State Budgets is nil

The Chairperson of the state-owned industrial holding company Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales (SEPI), Mr. Ramón Aguirre, has given details during his hearing before the Budgetary Committee which took place this afternoon at the Congress about the main figures of SEPI’s Budget for the financial year 2014.

During his intervention, Mr. Aguirre stated that “during the five-year period 2013 – 2017 Grupo SEPI is going to permanently record positive results as a consequence of the start of continued growth path, which will translate into permanent profits”. As a proof of this, according the Chairperson of the state-owned holding are the 455 Million Euros profits which will be obtained this financial year 2013 – most of them generated as a result of the partial sale of EADS - , or the 230 Million Euros in profits which are expected in the next financial year.

The Chairperson reminded that during the next financial year will continue the constant, already stated in Parliament, that SEPI will not generate any deficit and that it will have no impact at all on the State budgets, as has happened during the financial years 2012 and 2013. “Once again, Grupo SEPI will entail neither a expense for the taxpayer, nor a burden on the public accounts”, he stated.

In this sense, he also highlighted that the turnover will increase by 6%, while costs will grow below the forecasted consumer price index. All of this, taking into account the adjustments already made in the previous years. The indebtedness level of Grupo SEPI will continue being very low, at around 4% of the balance sheet, which at this time strengthens its significant financial autonomy and prevents subtracting credit from the rest of the Economy.

Besides, Mr. Aguirre underscored the investment effort in R&D, which will grow from 91 Million Euros this year to 118 Million Euros the next one, and with a horizon of almost 500 Million Euros until 2017, showing a clear commitment with making ready the state-owned enterprise for this period of economic recovery.

With regard to the evolution of the employment, the Group’s final workforce will go from the current 73,894 employees to a forecasted 71,795 employees in 2014, due to a large extent to vegetative factors, which does not entail significant variations. In this sense, Mr. Aguirre called for allowing the companies ENSA and ENUSA to expand their workforces due to the growth in their book of orders for the following years, notwithstanding the explicit prohibition for hiring permanent personnel in the public sector.

Equally, he mentioned the different collective agreements which are being bargained in some companies, or which have already been concluded in others, for adapting and regulating the employment terms and conditions in the companies for facing the next few years.

As for the specific companies of the Group, Mr. Aguirre talked about HUNOSA and the new framework for coalmining, the last one before the coming into force in 2018 of the European prohibition of state aid to this industry. The above mentioned framework sets up the orderly closure of the non-competitive mines, while maintaining at the same time the social protection of the workers involved.

Regarding NAVANTIA, he highlighted its new Strategic Plan 2014-2018, whose goal is to achieve the short-time feasibility and turning it into a competitive and sustainable company, with medium- and long-term growth capacity. For this, the model for the company is going to be reviewed, and a new labor framework is going to be implemented. He also mentioned the splendid evolution followed by CETARSA, whose contracting volume has grown by 20%, which has allowed to raise the prices paid by 4%, thus breaking the trend of the last few years.

Finally, he praised the reorganization effort carried out by CORREOS, which has amounted to 700 Million Euros, as well as the wide policy of grants for favoring the integration into the labor market carried out by Fundación SEPI, with more than 900 granted, distributed in 26 calls for the most important companies in the country.