Published 2/13/2018 11:20:20:06 CET
PARIS, 13 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of Michelin, Jean Dominique Senard, has assured that the factories of the manufacturer of French tires in Spain “still have margin to reach his maximum capacity of production”, underlining that these have a “very important” weight on the attainment of the good ones results that the company harvests in Europe.
In a meeting with the Spanish press after the presentation of the annual results of 2017, Senard stressed that he has “great confidence” in the Spanish teams of the company, because they have shown great “loyalty” to Michelin throughout its history. In 2017, the Gala entity produced 420,000 tons of tires between its plants in Lasarte, Vitoria, Aranda de Duero and Valladolid, surpassing pre-crisis levels.
“The Spanish factories of the group have the greatest competitiveness in Europe, in fact we are in a position to manufacture products that we export to India in Spain, but we can not lower our guard because in this industry we have to fight day The Spanish teams have shown their ability to react, “he said.
In this way, Senard, who will leave Michelin agreed in 2019, has affirmed that the French company “is not afraid” of investing in the national territory, but is now focused on long-term investments in technology.
“We want to invest in technological improvement, and especially in large tires, for cars, trucks and civil engineering vehicles, and we also want to invest in digitalisation to facilitate the work of our operators through robots”, he added. .
In 2017, the multinational invested a total of 1,700 million euros, while for the current course it envisages investments between 1,700 and 1,800 million and between 1,500 and 1,700 million for 2020. Senard has clarified that the Michelin group does not intend to make specific disbursements, but wants to maintain constant investments. “We are preparing strong investments to prepare the factories of the future,” he said.
In this regard, he explained that the company is in the growth phase, which will be supported by investments in equipment or machinery, among other things, so that the company grows organically and through acquisitions of external companies.
RESULTS 2017.
In the previous year, Michelin recorded a net profit of 1,623 million euros, which translates into a record figure and an increase of 1.5% compared to the 1,667 million recorded in the previous year. However, Senard has been very confident that the French group will grow this year in line with the market and achieve in 2018 a year of “progress”.
“In 2017, we did what we said we were going to do, we have achieved the best results of the group since it exists, and we have achieved it in a very difficult year, because we had to face a massive increase in the price of materials last year. We have managed to compensate this price increase with 700 million euros per year, “he added.
Finally, Senard stressed that the Spanish division of Michelin has helped the group to record a profit of almost 1,700 million euros.